eft 

973 
R72 


5650 
Rosengarten,  J.G. 

The  German  soldier  in 
the  wars  of  the  United 
States. 


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THE 


GERMAN  SOLDIER 


IN    THE 


WARS  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 


BY 

J.    G.    ROSEN  GARTEN. 


PHILADELPHIA: 

J.  B.  LIPPINCOTT   COMPANY. 
1886. 


Copyright,  1886,  by  J.  G.  ROSENGARTEN. 


OF 


ADOLPH    G.    ROSENGARTEN, 

Major  isth  Pennsylvania  (Anderson)  Cavalry, 


BORN  IN  PHILADELPHIA,  DECEMBER  29,  1838;  KILLED  IN  HATTLE  AT  STONE 
RIVER,  TENNESSEE,  DECEMBER  29,  1862. 


PREFATORY   NOTE. 


THE  substance  of  the  following  pages  was  read 
before  the  Pionier  Verein  at  the  hall  of  the  German 
Society,  in  Philadelphia,  April  21,  1885.  It  was 
printed  with  some  changes  in  the  United  Service 
Magazine  of  New  York,  in  the  numbers  for  June, 
July,  and  August,  1885,  and  it  was  translated  and 
printed  in  German  in  full  in  the  Nebraska  Tribune, 
in  successive  issues,  between  June  2Oth  and  October 
27,  1885, — the  last  number  being  a  supplementary 
article  by  the  translator,  Fr.  Schnake,  on  the  German 
Soldiers  of  the  Border  States.  It  was  subsequently 
published  in  a  pamphlet  of  forty-nine  pages  by  J. 
B.  Lippincott  Company,  Philadelphia,  for  the  Pionier 
Verein.  That  edition  is  exhausted,  and  in  reply 
to  numerous  applications,  showing  interest  in  the 
subject,  it  is  now  reprinted  with  many  corrections 


6  PREFATORY  NOTE. 

and  considerable  additions.  For  these  the  author 
is  indebted  most  of  all  to  the  Deutsche  Pionier  of 
Cincinnati  and  to  the  editor,  H.  A.  Ratterman,  the 
best  authority  on  all  subjects  concerning  the  Germans 
of  the  United  States, — and  among  others  to  Mr.  F. 
Melchers,  of  the  Deutsche  Zeitung,  Charleston,  South 
Carolina;  Mr.  Herman  Dieck,  of  the  German  Demo- 
krat,  Philadelphia;  General  Lewis  Merrill,  U.S.A.; 
Colonel  John  P.  Nicholson,  Dr.  J.  de  B.  W.  Gardiner, 
U.S.A.;  Prof.  O.  Seidensticker,  of  the  University  of 
Pennsylvania,  and  Mr.  George  M.  Abbot,  of  the 
Philadelphia  Library, — his  "  Bibliography  of  the  Civil 
War  in  the  United  States"  is  indispensable  for  a 
student  of  our  military  history.  Whatever  there  is  of 
merit  or  interest  in  these  pages  is  largely  due  to  the 
assistance  thus  liberally  given.  With  further  aid  in 
the  way  either  of  corrections  or  additions,  which 
will  be  gladly  received  and  gratefully  acknowledged, 
the  author  of  this  sketch  hopes  that  he  may  here- 
after be  enabled  to  make  it  better  worth  the  interest 
of  the  reader  and  the  importance  of  the  subject. 

J.  G.  R. 

PHILADELPHIA,  April  21,  1886, 
532  WALNUT  STREET. 


THE  GERMAN  SOLDIER 

IN    THE 

WARS  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 


THE  share  of  the  Germans  in  the  wars  of  the 
United  States  is  by  no  means  limited  to  that  of  the 
Rebellion.  From  the  very  outset  of  their  settlement 
in  the  country  they  always  stood  ready  to  take  their 
place  in  its  defence.  On  the  borders  of  what  was 
then  the  West,  the  early  German  immigrants  were 
steady  in  their  support  of  the  British  flag  against 
their  hereditary  enemies,  the  French.  This  was 
natural  enough,  for  many  of  the  Germans  who  first 
came  to  this  country  did  so  in  order  to  seek  refuge 
from  the  French  invaders,  who  rode  rough-shod 
over  their  humble  homes  in  the  districts  of  Ger- 
many devastated  by  French  soldiers.  Even  among 


8  THE    GERMAN  SOLDIER  IN  THE 

those  who  came  here  to  find  a  new  home  in  which 
they  could  worship  God  in  their  own  way,  while 
they  sympathized  with  the  Quakers  in  their  doctrine 
of  not  bearing  arms  voluntarily,  the  German  blood 
did  not  easily  accommodate  itself  to  the  doctrine 
of  non-resistance,  and  when  they  could  not  make 
friends  of  the  Indians  by  peaceful  means,  the  German 
settlers  did  not  hesitate  to  take  up  arms  in  defence 
of  their  homes.  The  Germans  of  Pennsylvania  and 
New  York  responded  freely  to  the  summons  to  de- 
fend their  new  country  against  the  French  and  their 
allies,  the  Indians.  They  gave  freely  of  their  men 
and  their  means  to  the  cause  of  liberty  in  the  war 
of  the  Revolution.  They  took  a  full  share  in  the 
war  of  1812,  and  in  the  Mexican  war.  Finally, 
wherever  the  Germans  were  strongest  in  number, 
they  were  represented  in  even  more  than  propor- 
tionate strength  in  the  forces  raised  for  the  defence 
of  the  Union.  From  New  York  and  Pennsylvania 
they  went  forth  in  great  strength  in  regiments  and 
individually.  They  saved  Missouri  to  the  Union, 
and  Ohio  and  Illinois  and  Indiana  and  Wisconsin 
and  Kansas  may  well  point  with  pride  to  their 
German  citizens  as  foremost  in  doing  their  duty 
in  war  and  in  peace.  The  story  of  their  achieve- 


WARS   OF  THE    UNITED  STATES. 


9 


ments  in  war  is  a  subject  on  which  little  has  hitherto 
been  said. 

The  Germans  from  the  Palatinate  had  been  scat- 
tered on  the  frontier,  facing"  the  Indians  and  the 
French  in  New  York  and  Pennsylvania.  The  early 
settlers  in  South  and  North  Carolina  and  Georgia 
were  also  largely  recruited  from  the  Germans,  and 
they,  too,  had  still  another  hostile  force  to  meet, 
that  of  the  Spanish  troops  and  Indians,  whose 
masters  were  unwilling  to  see  their  territory  threat- 
ened and  diminished.  The  good  Moravians  gave 
up  their  settlements  in  Georgia  rather  than  fight, 
and  thus  lost  the  fruits  of  some  years  of  labor  in 
their  schools  and  churches.  The  sturdy  Protestants 
from  the  Palatinate  were  not  afraid  to  take  up  arms 
in  defence  of  their  own  homes,  and  in  a  very  short 
time  the  British  government,  which  had  brought 
them  here  as  an  act  of  benevolence,  found  a  good 
return  in  the  services  rendered  by  the  German 
settlers  as  peacemakers  with  the  Indians,  and  when 
necessary,  as  soldiers  against  the  French  and  the 
Spanish  and  their  native  allies.  There  was,  indeed, 
quite  a  characteristic  jealousy  of  them  on  the  part 
of  their  unwarlike  neighbors  in  Pennsylvania,  and 
not  a  little  of  the  hostility  which  marked  the 


10 


THE    GERMAN  SOLDIER   IN  THE 


treatment  of  the  early  German  settlers  in  New  York 
was  due  to  their  sturdy  indifference  to  those,  both 
Dutch  and  English,  the  great  land-owners,  who 
would  have  controlled  them  and  used  them  as 
feudal  serfs.  They  acknowledged  their  allegiance 
to  the  crown,  and  gladly  served  it.  They  refused 
to  submit  to  the  tyranny  of  great  landlords,  and 
on  that  account  soon  left  New  York  to  find  per- 
manent homes  under  the  kindlier  sway  of  the  Penns. 
Pennsylvania  made  Conrad  Weiser  colonel  of  a 
regiment  of  volunteers  from  the  county  of  Berks, 
and  Governor  Morris,  in  1755,  gave  him  command 
over  the  second  battalion  of  the  Pennsylvania  regi- 
ment, consisting  of  nine  companies.  In  the  defence 
of  the  borders  against  the  Indians  and  the  French, 
forts  were  built  by  the  German  settlers  above 
Harrisburg,  at  the  forks  of  the  Schuylkill,  on  the 
Lehigh,  and  on  the  Upper  Delaware.  The  Hon. 
Daniel  Ermentrout,  in  his  address  at  the  German 
Centennial  Jubilee  in  Reading  in  June,  1876,  de- 
scribes the  Tulpehocken  massacre  in  1755,  just 
after  Braddock's  defeat,  the  barbarities  perpetrated 
in  Northampton  County  in  1756,  and  the  attack 
on  the  settlements  near  Reading  in  1763.  Against 
these  forays  the  Germans  under  Schneider  and 


WARS   OF   THE    UNITED   STATES.  TI 

Hiester  made  a  stout  resistance.  As  early  as  1711 
a  German  battalion,  mainly  natives  of  the  Palatinate, 
was  part  of  the  force,  a  thousand  strong,  which  was 
to  take  part  in  the  expedition  to  Quebec.  While  the 
Quakers  of  Pennsylvania  kept  the  government  from 
exerting  its  full  strength,  the  Germans,  in  spite  of 
their  peace  principles,  stood  up  stoutly  for  their  own 
homesteads.  Berks,  Bucks,  Lancaster,  York,  and 
Northampton  were  then  the  frontier  counties,  and 
from  them  came  the  men  who  filled  the  German 
regiments  and  battalions  of  the  Revolutionary  war. 
The  sufferings  inflicted  on  the  German  settlers  were 
not  without  their  influence  in  inspiring  their  de- 
scendants with  the  patriotism  which  made  them 
good  soldiers  both  in  the  Revolution  and  in  the 
war  of  the  Rebellion. 

At  the  outbreak  of  the  old  French  war,  the 
British  government,  under  an  act  of  Parliament 
passed  for  the  purpose,  organized  the  Royal  Amer- 
ican Regiment  for  service  in  the  colonies.  This 
force  was  to  consist  of  four  battalions,  of  one 
thousand  men  each.  Fifty  of  the  officers  were  to 
be  foreign  Protestants,  while  the  enlisted  men  were 
to  be  raised  principally  from  among  the  German 
settlers  in  America.  The  immediate  commander, 


12  THE    GERMAN  SOLDIER  IN  THE 

General  Bouquet,  was  a  Swiss  by  birth,  an  English 
officer  by  adoption,  and  a  Pennsylvanian  by  natu- 
ralization. This  last  distinction  was  conferred  on 
him  in  compliment,  and  as  a  reward  for  his  ser- 
vices in  his  campaigns  in  the  western  part  of 
Pennsylvania,  where  he  and  his  Germans  atoned  for 
the  injuries  that  resulted  from  Braddock's  defeat 
in  the  same  border  region.* 

The  first  colonel  of  the  regiment  .was  Lord 
Loudoun,  and  the  four  battalions  were  commanded 
by  Stanwix,  Duffeaux,  Jeffereys,  and  Provost.  Lord 
Howe  was  commissioned  colonel  in  1757,  when  he 
was  first  ordered  to  America.  The  regiment  itself 
still  exists  as  the  Sixtieth  of  the  line  of  the  British 
army.  Bouquet  himself  died  in  1765,  at  Pensacola, 
just  after  he  had  received  the  thanks  of  the  As- 
sembly of  Pennsylvania  for  his  victory  at  Bushy 
Run  in  1763.  It  was  to  the  Germans  of  his  force 
that  is  due  much  of  the  credit  of  this  action,  mak- 
ing amends  for  the  disaster  of  Braddock's  defeat. 
A  chaplain  of  this  regiment,  who  shared  in  its 

*  One  of  the  best  evidences  of  the  interest  taken  in  this  organ- 
ization is  the  sermon  preached  in  Christ  Church,  Philadelphia,  by 
the  Rev.  Dr.  William  Smith,  which  was  printed  at  the  request  of 
the  colonel  and  officers. 


WARS   OF   THE    UNITED   STATES.  ^ 

operations  at  Louisburg  and  on  the  frontiers,  the 
Rev.  Michael  Schlattler,  died  at  Chestnut  Hill, 
Philadelphia,  in  1790,  in  the  enjoyment  of  a  pension 
from  the  British  government,  although  he  had 
proved  himself  a  good  patriot  in  the  Revolutionary 
war.  His  descendants  were  well  known  as  success- 
ful merchants  in  Philadelphia,  while  his  own  mem- 
ory is  honored  by  a  biography  giving  an  account 
of  his  varied  services  to  the  Church. 

But  from  the  Germans  of  Pennsylvania  there 
went  forth  an  influence  among  the  Indians  more 
potential  in  saving  the  country  from  desolating 
border  warfare  than  soldiers  or  fortifications.  While 
the  French  were  striving  to  make  the  Indians  their 
allies  in  war,  the  Germans,  and  especially  the  Mo- 
ravians, were  working  successfully  to  convert  the 
savages  into  peaceful  Christians,  and  make  them 
good  neighbors,  useful  and  obedient  to  the  author- 
ities, and  a  strong  defence  against  the  inroads  of 
their  more  savage  brethren  influenced  by  the  French. 
The  Moravians  sent  their  members  out  to  preserve 
peace ;  their  knowledge  of  the  Indians  and  their 
languages,  their  intercourse  and  intermarriages,  had 
secured  the  confidence  of  the  untutored  savages. 
Parkman,  in  his  last  work,  "  Montcalm  and  Wolfe 


I4  THE    GERMAN  SOLDIER   IN   THE 

in  the  French  War  of  1759,"  describes  at  length 
the  mission  undertaken  by  Christian  Frederick  Post 
as  envoy  to  the  hostile  tribes  on  the  distant  Ohio.* 
The  Moravians  were  apostles  of  peace,  and  they 
succeeded  to  a  surprising  degree  in  weaning  their 
Indian  converts  from  their  ferocious  instincts  and 
warlike  habits.  Post  boldly  presented  himself  among 
those  who  were  still  savage,  and  his  first  reception 
was  by  a  crowd  of  warriors,  their  faces  distorted 
with  rage,  threatening  to  kill  him.  Soon  after  the 
French  offered  a  great  reward  for  his  scalp,  but 
Post,  undaunted,  declared  to  the  Indians  the  coming 
of  an  army  to  drive  off  the  French,  and  in  return 
received  the  promise  of  the  warlike  savages  to  keep 
the  peace.  After  a  conference  at  Easton,  Post  again 
went  on  a  mission  of  peace  to  the  tribes  of  the  Ohio. 
The  small  escort  of  soldiers  that  attended  him  as 
far  as  the  Allegheny,  was  cut  to  pieces  on  its  return 

*  Frederick  Post  was  a  German  Moravian,  who,  as  early  as  1761, 
settled  in  what  is  now  Bethlehem  Township,  Stark  County,  Ohio, 
where  he  built  a  block-house  and  cleared  a  few  acres  of  forest, 
and  established  a  mission  settlement.  The  family  of  Heckewelder 
joined  him  there,  but  later  settled  at  Gnadenhutten  in  Tuscarawas 
County.  The  site  of  the  former  is  marked  by  a  few  remains  of 
the  old  block-house. 


WARS   OF  THE    UNITED  STATES.  r$ 

by  a  band  of  the  very  warriors  to  whom  he  was 
carrying  his  offers  of  friendship.  His  overtures 
were  accepted,  and  the  Delawares,  Shawnees,  and 
Mingoes  ceased  to  be  enemies.  The  English  sol- 
diers failed  by  force  of  arms  to  accomplish  what 
the  German  missionary  had  successfully  attained. 
Thus  the  work  of  the  Moravians  in  their  quiet 
home  at  Bethlehem  had  enabled  their  representa- 
tive to  gain  the  friendship  and  alliance  of  the  In- 
dians, and  to  weaken  the  force  of  the  French  and 
proportionately  strengthen  that  of  the  English,  and 
this  was  in  no  small  degree  an  important  factor 
in  the  final  overthrow  of  the  French  in  America. 

In  Kapp's  "  History  of  the  Early  German  Settlers 
of  New  York,"  we  find  the  names  of  the  first  Ger- 
man soldiers,  those  who  bore  arms  in  defence  of 
their  hardly-won  homesteads  against  the  French  and 
their  allies,  the  Indians.  Among  them  were  the 
Weisers,  father  and  son.  The  elder,  John  Conrad, 
born  in  Wiirtemberg,  came  to  this  country  a  few 
years  after  his  native  village  was  burned  by  the 
French  in  their  invasion  in  1693,  and  died  in  Penn- 
sylvania in  1746,  where  he  and  other  German  settlers 
found  refuge  from  the  unfair  treatment  of  the  wealthy 
New  York  land-owners.  Conrad  Weiser,  his  son, 


:6  THE    GERMAN  SOLDIER   /A    THE 

born  in  1696  in  Germany,  came,  with  his  father,  as 
a  boy  to  New  York,  and  after  a  brief  experience  of 
border-life  with  the  German  settlers  west  of  the  Hud- 
son, lived  with  the  Indians  long  enough  to  be  their 
fast  friend,  and  to  serve  as  their  intermediary  with 
the  whites,  helping  thus  to  preserve  the  peace  in  the 
midst  of  hostile  influences.  He  died  near  Reading,  in 
1760.  As  lieutenant-colonel  of  a  Pennsylvania  regi- 
ment he  shared  in  the  hardships  of  the  "  old  French 
war,"  and  secured  from  the  allied  Indians  an  affec- 
tion and  respect  which  stood  his  fellow-Germans  in 
good  stead  in  later  years.  His  daughter  was  the 
wife  of  the  elder  Muhlenberg,  the  first  of  that  name 
to  come  to  this  country,  and  the  mother  of  General 
Muhlenberg  of  Revolutionary  fame. 

As  early  as  1711  the  elder  Weiser  had  led  his 
German  countrymen  in  an  expedition  to  Canada,  in 
defence  of  the  English  against  the  French ;  and  the 
younger  Weiser,  in  1737,  boldly  went  out  among 
the  wild  tribes  of  native  Indians  and  successfully 
brought  them  to  make  peace  with  the  new  settlers. 
In  1748  he  penetrated  the  unknown  country  west 
as  far  as  the  Ohio,  and  in  1754  he  united  the  friendly 
Indians  in  a  strong  alliance,  which  served  very 
greatly  to  resist  the  French  intrigues  and  invasions. 


WARS   OF   THE    UNITED  STATES.  ij 

During  the  Revolutionary  war,  while  many  of  the 
Germans  of  New  York  were  serving  in  the  army, 
their  homes  and  those  of  their  neighbors  were 
exposed  to  the  attacks  of  savage  enemies,  French 
and  Indians  rivalling  one  another  in  cruelties.  The 
German  settlers  and  their  families  defended  them- 
selves with  real  courage,  and  the  story  of  their  heroic 
deeds  well  deserves  the  lasting  record  that  Kapp  has 
secured  it  in  his  interesting  volume.  The  border 
warfare,  of  what  was  then  Western  New  York, 
showed  that  among  the  Germans  there  were  many 
stout  hearts  and  strong  hands  ready  to  defend  their 
lives  and  to  protect  their  families.  Each  home  was 
a  block-house  and  every  fort  a  gathering-point,  yet 
the  English  were  as  bitter  in  repressing  the  liberty- 
loving  Germans  as  ever  the  French  had  been  in 
attacking  them  for  their  loyalty  to  England.  Even 
when  the  war  ended  it  was  with  a  sacrifice  of  lives 
and  property  that  fell  heavily  on  the  German  settlers. 
All  this,  however,  was  a  training  and  experience  that 
helped  to  make  them  devoted  patriots,  and  earnest  in 
their  readiness  to  sacrifice  everything  in  defence  of 
their  newly-acquired  liberty  and  independence. 
From  the  same  counties  came  many  regiments  into 
the  army  that  helped  to  defend  and  preserve  the 

2* 


!g  THE    GERMAN  SOLDIER   IN  THE 

Union,  and  although  the  distinctive  German  charac- 
teristics were  less  marked  in  New  York  than  in 
Pennsylvania,  still  a  military  history  of  New  York 
in  the  Rebellion,  whenever  it  is  written,  will  show 
that  the  Germans,  descendants  of  the  early  Pfaslzers 
and  Rhinelanders,  who  had  settled  in  New  York  in 
the  early  part  of  the  eighteenth  century,  were  fully 
alive  to  the  patriotic  demand  made  upon  them  in  the 
middle  of  the  nineteenth  century. 

In  1728,  the  first  conflict  in  Pennsylvania  took 
place  between  Germans  and  Indians  at  Manatawny. 
In  1755,  after  Braddock's  defeat,  the  Indians  attacked 
the  Moravian  settlements,  and  all  the  frontier  counties 
were  ravaged  by  them.  Franklin  himself  headed  a 
regiment  in  defence  of  Pennsylvania,  in  which  many 
Germans  served,  and  he  gave  them  hearty  praise  for 
their  bravery.  When  another  outbreak  occurred  in 
1763,  Bouquet  with  his  regiment  of  Royal  Americans, 
officered  as  well  as  manned  by  Germans,  put  it  down. 
The  Germans  of  Charleston,  South  Carolina,  organ- 
ized in  1775  a  Fusilier  Company,  which  served 
through  the  Revolution  and  is  still  in  existence. 
In  Georgia  many  of  the  early  German  settlers  en- 
listed under  General  Wayne  in  the  Revolutionary 
army. 


WARS   OF   THE    UNITED   STATES.  jp 

The  German  soldier  has  gone  through  all  the 
phases  of  history  in  our  brief  experience  of  war. 
In  the  Revolution  the  Hessians  became  a  by-word, 
and  yet  they  were  rather  the  victims  of  political 
evils  than  willing  partisans.  Not  the  least  of  Fried- 
erich  Kapp's  great  services  to  both  the  country  of  his 
adoption  and  that  of  his  nativity,  is  his  series  of 
admirable  works  on  the  German  soldiers  of  the  Revo- 
lution, on  the  one  side,  his  account  of  the  dealings 
in  them  as  mercenaries,  and  on  the  other,  his  lives  of 
Steuben  and  De  Kalb.  Much  of  his  material  has 
supplied  that  for  later  authors,  notably  Green  and 
Lowell.  Von  Elking  has  furnished  the  story  of 
Riedesel's  life,  the  commander  of  the  German  forces 
in  the  British  army.  The  "  Memoirs  of  Mme.  von 
Riedesel"  will  always  be  read  with  interest  as  a  pic- 
ture of  the  times  of  the  Revolution,  both  in  Germany 
and  in  America. 

The  material  for  a  statistical  account  of  the  Ger- 
man forces  engaged  in  America  has  been  found  in 
the  well-ordered  and  well-preserved  archives  of  the 
various  German  states  from  which  they  came.  For 
our  "  War  of  the  Rebellion"  such  data  are  not  easily 
attainable.  The  story  covers  too  vast  a  field  to  be 
briefly  told.  The  method  of  raising  troops  in  the 


2Q  THE    GERMAN  SOLDIER   IN   THE 

separate  States  obliges  an  inquirer  to  make  an  ex- 
amination of  the  printed  records  of  each  State,  and 
these  are  so  voluminous  and  so  unsystematic,  that 
it  is  almost  impossible  to  get  at  the  facts  of  the 
nativity  of  the  soldiers  serving  in  their  organizations. 
Indeed,  there  still  remains  to  be  written  a  history 
of  the  part  of  New  York  in  the  war,  and  in  those 
bulky  volumes  of  war  records  of  States  already 
printed  it  is  hard  to  say  which  is  the  least  satis- 
factory on  this  point. 

The  Seven  Years'  war  made  the  name  of  Germany 
and  its  great  leader,  Frederick,  popular  throughout 
the  colonies.  Town,  village,  and  wayside  inn  dis- 
played the  well-known  sharp  features  and  high 
shoulders  as  a  sign,  and  the  "  King  of  Prussia"  was 
a  favorite  name  for  taverns — then  of  more  impor- 
tance than  to-day — on  all  the  high-roads  between 
the  great  towns.*  Steuben  was  one  of  Frederick's 
own  veterans,  and  as  such  he  was  heartily  welcomed, 

*  Sauer,  the  Germantown  printer,  published  in  1761  a  translation 
into  German  of  Dilworth's  "  Life  and  Heroic  Deeds  of  Frederick 
the  Great,"  a  volume  of  288  pages.  Rabbi  Franckel's  Berlin  Thanks- 
giving Sermon  on  the  King's  Victory  of  December  5,  1757,  was  re- 
printed in  Philadelphia  in  1763,  in  a  translation  by  an  unknown 
hand  (Hildeburn's  Issues  of  the  Pennsylvania  Press,  No.  6725). 


WARS   OF  THE    UNITED   STATES.  2I 

when  French  officers  of  high  rank  were  coldly  re- 
ceived. His  zeal,  his  ability,  his  success,  were  shown 
in  the  improved  discipline  and  instruction  of  the 
provincial  troops.  He  was  so  good  a  soldier  that 
he  knew  just  how  to  use  the  material  at  hand,  and 
to  make  good  soldiers  and  good  officers  of  what 
had  hitherto  been  an  undisciplined  mass.  Steuben's 
Regulations  long  remained  the  manual  of  the  United 
States  army  and  its  militia.  It  was  not  only  that 
he  made  the  army  successful  in  the  field,  but  the 
discipline  he  had  introduced  so  effectually  cultivated 
the  sense  of  duty  and  subordination,  that  a  weak  and 
impotent  Congress,  which  had  utterly  failed  of  its 
duty  to  provide  for  its  soldiers,  was  still  able  to 
disband  peacefully  an  injured  and  irritated  army. 
That  he  spent  the  rest  of  his  life  in  waiting  for 
justice  is  not  fairly  compensated  for  by  the  posthu- 
mous honors  that  have  been  paid  his  memory  since 
his  death,  and  the  debt  of  gratitude  that  America 
owes  to  Steuben  is  one  that  can  never  be  fully  dis- 
charged. 

Much  has  been  said  and  written  in  disparagement 
of  the  German  mercenaries  serving  in  the  British 
army  in  the  war  of  independence.  It  must  be  borne 
in  mind  that  in  England  itself  the  wickedness  of 


22  THE    GERMAN  SOLDIER  IN  THE 

thus  hiring  men  against  their  consent  was  sharply 
denounced.  Holland  and  Russia  absolutely  refused 
to  accept  the  tempting  offers  of  Great  Britain.  King 
George,  himself  a  German  sovereign,  mildly  pro- 
tested against  thus  using  his  Hanoverian  troops. 
Frederick  the  Great  sternly  forbade  the  enlistment 
of  any  of  his  subjects  or  permission  to  any  of  the 
petty  German  princes  to  take  their  soldiers  through 
his  territories  to  ports  of  shipment  to  England  for 
America.  Schiller  stigmatized  the  trade  in  men  in 
his  "  Kabale  und  Liebe,"  while  Kant  went  still  further 
and  embraced  the  cause  of  the  American  colonist 
with  all  the  energy  of  his  great  intellect.  Klop- 
stock  and  Lessing  spoke  in  the  same  strain,  al- 
though in  lower  tones.  Frederic  Kapp  puts  the  total 
of  twenty-nine  thousand  one  hundred  and  sixty-six 
as  the  number  furnished  by  Brunswick,  Hesse-Cassel, 
Hanau,  Waldeck,  Anspach,  and  Anhalt,  and  of  these 
only  seventeen  thousand  three  hundred  and  thirteen 
returned  to  their  native  country.  How  many  of  the 
remainder  stayed  in  their  new  home  to  become 
fathers  of  American  citizens  cannot  be  easily  ascer- 
tained, yet  it  is  more  than  a  tradition  that  in  Penn- 
sylvania, in  Maryland,  in  Virginia,  in  North  Caro- 
lina, wherever  there  were  German  settlers  ready  to 


WARS   OF  THE    UNITED  STATES.  2$ 

aid  the  newcomers,  the  sick,  the  wounded,  the 
stragglers,  the  deserters,  all  found  protection  and  a 
welcome,  which  insured  them  prosperity  and  a  better 
livelihood  than  they  had  left  behind  them.  Their 
number  has  been  roughly  estimated  at  considerably 
over  ten  thousand. 

There  were  many  Germans  settled  in  the  colonies 
before  the  Revolution,  who  cast  their  fortunes  with 
the  young  republic  and  shared  in  the  struggle  which 
secured  independence  and  union. 

The  German  Battalion  was  raised  agreeably  to  a 
resolve  of  Congress  of  May  22,  1776,  four  companies 
in  Pennsylvania  and  four  in  Maryland,  to  which  was 
added  a  ninth  company  by  resolve  of  July  9,  1777. 
The  officers  were :  Lieutenant-Colonel,  Ludwick 
Weltener;  Major,  Daniel  Burckhart;  Captains,  Jacob 
Bunner,  Peter  Boyer,  Charles  Baltzel,  William  Rice, 
Bernard  Hubley,  Christian  Myers,  Michael  Bayer; 
Captain-Lieutenant,  Philip  Schrauder;  Lieutenants, 
John  Weidman,  Martin  Sugart,  Jacob  Gremeth,  Jacob 
Cramer,  Godfrey  Swartz,  Marcus  Young,  David  Mor- 
gan ;  Ensigns,  John  Weidman,  Henry  Shrupp,  David 
Desenderfer,  Henry  Spech,  Jacob  Raboldt,  Christian 
Glichner,  William  Prux,  Henry  Hehn. 

An    independent   corps  of  one   hundred  and  fifty 


24  THE    GERMAN  SOLDIER   IN  THE 

men  was  raised  by  resolve  of  December  5,  1776,  of 
which  the  officers  were :  Captains,  John  Paul  Schott, 
Anthony  Selim. 

In  Henry's  account  of  Arnold's  campaign  against 
Quebec,  1775  (Albany,  Munsell,  1877),  is  a  reference 
to  the  company  of  riflemen  commanded  by  Captain 
William  Hendricks,  from  Cumberland  County,  Penn- 
sylvania, "  an  excellent  body  of  men,  formed  by  na- 
ture as  the  stamina  of  an  army,  fitted  for  a  tough 
and  tight  defence  of  the  liberties  of  their  country." 
Hendricks  "  was  tall,  of  a  mild  and  beautiful  counte- 
nance, his  soul  was  animated  by  a  genuine  spark 
of  heroism."  He  was  killed  at  Quebec,  in  the  same 
attack  in  which  General  Montgomery  fell,  on  the  1st 
of  January,  1776,  and  the  two  heroes  were  buried 
side  by  side.  Provost  Smith,  in  his  oration  on  Mont- 
gomery, speaks  with  unstinted  praise  of  the  Pennsyl- 
vania riflemen.  Their  funeral  was  marked  by  the 
British  officers  with  every  mark  of  honor.  Of  Hen- 
dricks's  company,  raised  on  the  west  side  of  the  Sus- 
quehanna,  scarcely  a  dozen  names  have  been  res- 
cued from  oblivion.  Of  the  flower  of  the  country, 
brave,  ardent,  and  patriotic,  and  nowise  daunted  by 
the  sufferings  of  the  Arnold  campaign,  nearly  all  of 
those  who  returned  safely  from  it  served  again  in  the 


WARS   OF  THE    UNITED  STATES.  2$ 

Revolution.  He  is  spoken  of  with  equal  praise  by 
Thayer  in  his  "Journal  of  the  Invasion  of  Canada  in 
1775,"  edited  by  Stone,  published  in  Providence, 
Rhode  Island,  in  1867. 

In  Harris's  "  Biographical  History  of  Lancaster 
County"  (Lancaster,  1872),  there  are  many  names  of 
its  German  settlers  and  their  descendants  who  served 
as  soldiers,  with  honor  to  themselves  and  credit  to 
race  whence  they  sprang. 

In  Hamersly's  "  Dictionary  of  the  Army,"  and  on 
the  register  of  the  army  for  1784,  there  are  the 
familiar  names  of  General  Steuben,  inspector-general, 
and  his  aide-de-camp,  Major  William  North,  and  that 
of  Major  Continental  Artillery,  Sebastian  Bauman, 
captain  New  York  Continental  Artillery  Company, 
1776,  brevet  lieutenant-colonel,  1787. 

The  following  hitherto  unprinted  letter  of  De 
Kalb,  from  the  unrivalled  collection  of  Ferdinand 
J.  Dreer,  Esq.,  of  Philadelphia,  is  so  characteristic 
of  that  hero,  in  its  manly  refusal  to  accept  military 
precedence  to  Lafayette,  that  it  is  well  worth  publica- 
tion, as  showing  the  noble  nature  of  the  man : 

"BETHLEHEM,  l8  Sepf.  1777- 

"Sm, — I  have  been  ever  since  I  had  the  favour 
your  letter  by  Mr.  Secretary  Thomson,  in  a  very 


26  THE    GERMAN  SOLDIER   IN  THE 

uncertain  and  fluctuating  Situation  of  mind,  be- 
tween the  desire  of  serving  in  your  Army,  and  the 
apprehension  of  blame  from  home.  But  Congress 
and  your  Esteem  do  me  too  much  Honour,  not 
to  accept  your  late  proposals,  if  they  will  grant  me 
Several  points  I  think  essential  to  my  tranquillity 
and  entire  satisfaction.  1st.  That  I  may  be  at  Lib- 
erty to  give  up  my  Commission  if  in  answer  to  the 
account  I  will  send  to  France  of  my  proceedings 
here  and  my  behaviour  towards  those  officers  that 
came  over  with  me,  in  case  they  were  to  exclaim 
against  my  stay,  in  anyway  that  could  be  hurtfull 
to  my  reputation  and  honour. 

"  2nd.  As  to  the  offer  made  to  me  by  the  Ministry 
of  Mr.  Thomson  to  have  my  Commission  done  of 
an  older  date  than  Marquiss  de  la  Fayette's.  I  would 
decline  it  and  have  my  Commission  of  the  same 
day  with  his.  That  it  may  be  in  my  power  to 
show  my  regard  for  his  friendship  to  me,  in  giving 
him  the  Seniority  over  me  in  America,  in  order,  too, 
not  to  disgust  him. 

"  3rd.  That  Congress  will  be  pleased  to  grant  to 
Chev.  Dubuysson,  a  Commission  as  Lt.  Colonel  with 
only  the  pay  as  a  Major,  or  as  my  aid  de  Camp. 

"4th.  That  they  will  please  to  make  provision  for 


WARS   OF  THE    UNITED  STATES.  2/ 

said  Chev.  Dubuysson  of  having  the  assurance  of 
a  Pension  of  1200  Livres  French  money  or  fifty 
Louis  d'ors  to  be  paid  in  France  for  life  if  he  serves 
this  and  next  Campaign,  and  which  they  will  aug- 
ment at  pleasure  if  he  serves  longer  and  they  are 
satisfied  with  his  having  done  his  duty  according 
to  time  and  circumstances. 

"  5th.  That  if  Congress  are  disposed  to  do  any- 
thing of  that  kind  for  myself  it  shall  be  done  at 
their  own  terms  and  pleasure.  The  only  thing  I 
could  wish  in  that  respect,  would  be  to  have  the 
favour  bestowed  on  my  Lady  and  children  in  case 
I  died  in  the  Continental  Army  or  any  other  way 
while  in  their  service. 

"  On  said  Conditions  I  am  ready  to  join  the  army 
as  soon  as  possible  and  to  go  directly  to  Philadel- 
phia from  Lancaster,  where  I  will  wait  for  a  Resolve 
of  Congress,  by  Chev.  Dubuysson,  bearer  of  this. 

"  Another  observation  I  think  necessary  in  regard 
to  the  immediate  Command  of  a  Division.  General 
Washington  has  perhaps  friends  or  deserving  officers 
to  whom  he  would  give  the  preference,  in  such  a 
case  I  should  be  sorry  my  coming  in  did  in  the 
least  cross  or  prevent  his  dispositions  in  this  and 
any  other  respects.  I  will  gladly  and  entirely 


28  THE    GERMAN  SOLDIER   IN   THE 

submit  to  his  Commands  and  to  be  employed  as 
he  shall  think  most  convenient  for  the  good  of  the 
Service.  If  my  second  aid  de  Camp  I  am  to  chuse, 
chanced  to  be  a  foreigner,  I  should  be  glad  some 
provision  was  made  for  him  after  leaving  the  service, 
in  proportion  to  his  rank  as  a  Major. 

"  I  depend  for  the  Settling  of  all  these  matters  to 
the  Satisfaction  of  all  parties,  on  the  friendship  you 
are  so  kind  to  profess  for  me,  and  of  which  I  have 
already  so  many  proofs.  These  new  obligations 
cannot  increase  the  respect  and  high  Esteem  with 
which  I  have  the  Honour  to  be, 
"  Sir, 

"  Your  most  obedient, 

"  Humble  Servant, 

"BARON  DE  KALB. 
"  COLONEL  RICHARD  HENRY  LEE, 

"  Member  of  Congress." 
This  is  endorsed : 

"  Com  d  to  B  d  War 

"  1 8th  &  23d  Sept.  1777,  acted  upon." 

From  the  same  treasure-house  of  original  material 
for  history  comes  the  letter  from  Steuben,  written  in 
French,  from  which  the  following  is  an  extract : 


WARS   OF  THE    UNITED   STATES. 


29 


r-  "  Dear  Friend 

"  I  have  received  your  two  letters  of  the  I2th  and 
2Oth  February, — I  would  rather  have  seen  you  in 
person.  I  am  infinitely  obliged  to  you  for  your 
news,  for  every  thing  which  occurs  in  the  army  is 
of  interest.  I  am  infinitely  sorry  for  your  account 
of  Col.  Bruchs  and  Major  Gils  and  would  be  glad 
to  help  them.  To  lose  such  an  officer  as  Bruchs 
would  be  a  real  misfortune.  I  have  already  spoken 
of  it  to  the  President  of  Congress  et  je  parlerai 
au  bon  Dieu  et  au  Diable.  I  would  move  Heaven 
and  Earth  to  prevent  it.  We  are  waiting  for  news 
from  Gibraltar  and  Charlestown,  as  the  Jews  wait 
for  the  Messiah.  I  have  bet  a  hat  on  the  fall  of 
Gibraltar,  but  I  am  afraid  I  shall  win  only  a  night 
cap.  Our  papers  are  full  of  epigrams,  abuse,  and 
dreams  of  the  late  Mr.  de  Galvan  on  the  American 
army, — his  friends  want  to  immortalize  him.  Let 
me  know  if  North  has  decided  to  go  beyond  Boston, 
for  in  that  case  I  fear  much, — but  no,  I  won't  fear 
anything.  I  hoped  to  present  my  compliments  to 
Mrs.  Washington  en  route  when  your  last  letter 
reported  that  she  had  gone.  I  would  like  to  see 
you  in  my  hermitage, — where  I  am  better  quartered 

than  since  I  came  to  America.     I  rarely  go  into  the 

3* 


jO  THE    GERMAN  SOLDIER  IN  THE 

city,  but  my  friends  come  to  see  me  in  my  cottage. 
I  receive  visits  from  European  Grandees,  such  as 
the  Prince  de  Guimene,  of  the  house  of  Rohan, — 
who  claim  to  be  next  after  the  Bourbons  in  France. 
The  Due  de  Lauzun,  the  Comte  de  Gillon,  have 
both  been  here  too.  Our  American  Grandees  are 
too  busy  with  great  affairs  to  pay  visits,  but  I  have 
no  pretensions,  for  I  have  paid  no  visit  except  to 
the  President  of  Congress,  nor  will  I.  Yesterday  I 
was  at  a  supper  and  ball  given  by  M.  de  la  Luzerne 
to  the  newly  married  Major  Moore  and  his  wife, — 
there  were  eighty  persons,  and  among  them  many 
pretty  women.  .  .  .  My  fate  is  not  yet  decided. 
I  have  just  written  to  Congress  to  demand  a  Com- 
mittee, to  which  I  can  submit  my  uncomfortable 
situation.  I  get  no  pay,  rations  or  forage,  and  I 
live  on  money  I  borrow  to  pay  my  marketing.  My 
case  is  one  of  'to  be  or  not  to  be/ — I  am  ready 
for  anything.  The  Secretary  of  War  will  find  it  no 
harder  to  replace  me  than  the  Adjutant-General, 
whose  position  he  offered  to  several  persons  of  my 
acquaintance.  '  Let  him  go'  is  the  favorite  phrase 
of  our  Secretaries  nowadays.  I  saw  Robert  Morris 
yesterday, — he  seems  more  affected  by  the  conditions 
of  the  army  than  anybody.  I  hope  that  after  the 


WARS   OF   THE    UNITED  STATES.  31 

1st  of  January,  not  only  will  the  subsistence  of  the 
officers  be  regularly  paid,  but  that  it  may  be  in- 
creased. Say  to  them  that  no  matter  what  happens, 
nothing  can  prevent  me  from  being  their  advocate. 
...  I  cannot  deal  with  Lincoln,  he  has  done  me 
more  harm  than  he  thinks,  but  I  don't  want  to  be 
anybody's  enemy,  not  even  his.  There  are  some 
people  who  are  dangerous  only  as  friends,  and  he 
is  one  of  them,  so  it  is  prudent  for  me  to  treat  him 
with  indifference.  I  was  not  the  aggressor,  I  sought 
his  friendship,  and  if  he  had  honored  me  with  his 
confidence,  my  advice  would  have  been  better  for 
him  than  that  of  his  friend  Cornel.  .  .  .  The  Prince 
de  Guimene  wants  to  make  the  acquaintance  of  the 
General  in  chief, — he  said  so  to  me,  and  if  my 
finances  do  not  prevent,  I  will  go  with  him.  Al- 
though he  is  only  a  Midshipman  on  the  Frigate,  he 
is  a  young  man  of  the  highest  nobility  in  France, — 
a  grandson  of  the  Prince  de  Soubise,  who  is  Mar- 
shal of  France.  I  give  you  warning,  so  that  in  case 
he  comes,  his  air  of  a  little  wild  boy  may  not  prevent 
you  showing  him  the  consideration  due  to  his  birth. 
But  what  nonsense  to  talk  this  way  in  a  Republic. 

My  respects  to  the  General. 

"  STEUBEN. 

"BELISARIUS  HALL. 
"Nov.  the  26th." 


32  THE    GERMAN  SOLDIER  IN  THE 

The  register  for  1789  gives,  captain  First  Infantry, 
David  Ziegler  (late  captain  First  Pennsylvania  Conti- 
nental Infantry).  In  the  Indian  border  warfare  be- 
tween 1788  and  1795,  a  leading  figure  was  that  of 
David  Ziegler,  whose  story  is  typical  of  that  of 
many  of  our  early  German  soldiers.  Born  in  Heidel- 
berg in  1748,  he  served  in  the  Russian  campaign 
against  the  Turks  under  Catharine,  until  the  con- 
quest of  the  Crimea  brought  peace.  He  settled  in 
Lancaster,  Pennsylvania,  in  1775,  and  as  adjutant  of 
a  Pennsylvania  regiment,  more  than  half  made  up  of 
Germans, — the  second  to  enlist  under  Washington 
for  the  war, — and  as  senior  captain  of  the  First  Penn- 
sylvania Continental  Regiment,  he  won  great  praise. 
Later  on  he  raised  a  company  for  war  against  the 
Indians  in  the  West,  and  took  part  in  Clark's  expe- 
dition, and  was  with  General  Harmar  in  1790,  and 
with  St.  Clair  in  1791,  in  command  of  a  battalion 
of  regulars.  He  was  made  major  and  temporarily 
assigned  command  of  the  army,  for  six  weeks,  but 
was  led  to  resign,  and  was  the  first  mayor  of  Cin- 
cinnati, where  he  died  in  1811.  The  army  list  for 
1805-6  has,  Captain  Artillery,  Michael  Kalteisen, 
who  had  been  distinguished  in  connection  with  the 
Charleston  (South  Carolina)  German  company. 


WARS   OF  THE    UNITED   STATES. 


33 


Michael  Kalteisen  was  born  at  Wachtelsheim, 
Wurtemberg,  on  the  i8th  of  June,  1729;  in  1762 
he  was  established  in  business  in  Charleston,  South 
Carolina,  where  a  large  German  population  had 
already  gathered.  In  1766,  with  fifteen  of  his  coun- 
trymen, he  established  the  German  Friendly  Society 
of  that  city,  and  by  the  time  of  the  Revolution  it 
counted  a  hundred  members,  and  was  well  enough 
off  to  advance  two  thousand  pounds  to  the  State 
for  defence  against  the  Crown.  On  the  I2th  of  July, 
1775,  he  set  on  foot  the  plan  of  a  German  military 
organization,  which  under  the  name  of  the  German 
Fusiliers,  by  1776,  counted  over  a  hundred  Germans 
in  its  ranks.  Its  captain  was  Alexander  Gillon,  first 
lieutenant  Peter  Bouquet  (brother  of  the  general  of 
that  name),  second  lieutenant  Kalteisen,  ensign 
Gideon  Dupont.  From  the  day  of  their  organiza- 
tion they  proved  themselves  true  and  ardent  patriots. 
In  1779  it  took  part  with  the  Continental  forces 
under  Lincoln  and  the  French  squadron  under 
D'Estaing,  in  the  siege  of  Savannah,  having  its  cap- 
tain, Scheppert,  killed  in  the  same  assault  in  which 
Pulaski  fell.  The  first  captain,  Gillon,  had  been 
made  captain  of  the  South  Carolina  fleet  in  1779, 
and  sent  to  France  to  buy  three  frigates.  The 


34 


THE    GERMAN  SOLDIER   IN  THE 


Prince  of  Luxemburg  gave  him  one  for  three  years, 
on  a  guarantee  of  its  safe  return  and  a  fourth  share 
of  all  prize  money.  He  finally  led  a  squadron  of 
eighty  sail,  and  took  the  "  Bahamas."  He  left  a  son 
who,  in  1817,  was  a  member  of  the  Fusiliers.  Kal- 
teisen  died  in  1807,  and  the  hall  of  the  German 
Society,  with  its  tablet  in  his  memory,  was  destroyed 
by  fire  in  1864.  The  Fusiliers,  however,  still  exist, 
and  the  German  Society  still  perpetuates  the  useful 
charity  set  on  foot  by  him. 

Of  the  general  officers  of  the  Continental  army,  the 
Germans  were  John  De  Kalb,  F.  von  de  Woedtke, 
F.  W.  A.  Steuben. 

In  the  pages  of  that  excellent  and  useful  journal, 
Der  Deutsche  Pionier,  the  organ  of  the  society  es- 
tablished under  that  name  to  preserve  everything 
that  relates  to  the  history  of  the  German  settlers 
in  this  country,  are  found  many  records  of  the 
Germans  who  served  the  cause  of  American  lib- 
erty, both  in  the  Revolutionary  war  and  in  that 
of  the  Rebellion.  Herkimer  in  New  York,  and 
Muhlenberg  in  Pennsylvania,  are  names  that  will 
long  preserve  the  memory  of  the  services  of  the 
first  German  soldiers  in  defence  of  their  adopted 
country.  The  records  of  the  Continental  army  show 


WARS   OF  THE    UNITED   STATES. 


35 


that  in  almost  every  regiment  there  were  Germans, 
and  in  those  of  Pennsylvania,  whole  regiments,  bat- 
talions, and  companies  organized,  officered,  and  filled 
with  Germans,  who  did  good  service  for  their  coun- 
*;ry.  In  the  then  western  wilderness  of  Kentucky, 
Daniel  Boone,  with  others  like  himself  of  German 
birth  or  descent,  did  their  share  in  securing  Amer- 
ican liberty  in  their  new  home.  In  Virginia,  North 
and  South  Carolina,  and  Georgia,  there  were  many 
German  settlers,  and  from  their  number  many  went 
into  the  patriot  army,  sharing  its  hardships  and 
contented  with  helping  to  secure  the  final  establish- 
ment of  American  independence  as  their  full  re- 
ward. In  Gustav  Korner's  "  Das  Deutsche  Element 
in  den  Vereinigten  Staaten,"  Cincinnati,  1880,  there 
is  a  graphic  account  of  the  Germans  from  1818  to 
1848,  with  frequent  reference  to  the  earlier,  as  well 
as  the  later,  Germans  who  took  a  distinguished  place 
among  the  soldiers  of  the  young  republic  in  its 
first  Revolution,  and  in  its  subsequent  wars.  Her- 
kimer,  Lutterloh,  and  Weissenfels  in  New  York, 
Muhlenberg  in  Pennsylvania,  Michael  Kalteisen  and 
his  associates  in  the  German  Fusilier  Company  of 
Charleston,  South  Carolina,  the  oldest  military  or- 
ganization of  the  country,  established  in  1775,  are 


36  THE    GERMAN  SOLDIER   IN   THE 

among  those  who  were  the  first  German  citizens  by 
their  sacrifices  and  their  services  to  secure  the  right 
to  a  place  in  the  home  of  their  adoption. 

Friedrich  Heinrich  Baron  von  Weissenfels  was  the 
friend  and  companion  of  Washington,  Steuben,  and 
De  Kalb,  and  his  name  deserves  to  be  rescued  fror»i 
oblivion.  Born  in  Elbing,  Prussia,  in  succession  to 
a  line  of  soldiers  (his  father  was  major  in  the 
Swedish  army),  he  served  in  the  Silesian  war  under 
Frederick  the  Great,  and,  like  Steuben,  won  at  the 
hands  of  that  royal  soldier  his  decoration  and  order; 
in  1756  he  entered  the  English  service  to  take  part 
in  the  old  French  war,  was  made  an  officer  in  the 
Royal  American,  the  Sixtieth  of  the  line,  took  part 
in  the  attack  on  Fort  Ticonderoga,  and  the  capture  of 
Havana  in  1762.  He  was  at  the  side  of  Wolfe  when 
he  fell  at  Quebec,  and  served  in  the  same  regiment 
as  St.  Clair.  Put  on  half  pay  at  the  close  of  the  war, 
he  settled  in  New  York,  married  a  widow  Bogart 
there,  and  had  Steuben  and  Van  Courtland  as  his 
groomsmen.  As  soon  as  the  colonies  began  the 
Revolution,  casting  aside  all  thought  of  his  own 
interest,  he  offered  his  services  to  the  Continental 
Congress;  was  made  captain  of  a  regiment  organized 
in  New  York  in  1775,  and  was  brigade-major  at 


WARS  OF   THE    UNITED   STATES.  37 

Quebec  with  Montgomery  and  Worster.  In  1776  he 
was  made  lieutenant-colonel  in  command  of  the  Third 
Battalion  of  the  Second  New  York  Regiment  of  the 
line,  and  was  soon  promoted  to  be  colonel,  serving  at 
White  Plains  and  at  Trenton,  and  at  the  capture  of 
Burgoyne,  as  well  as  at  Monmouth.  In  1779  he 
was  second  in  command  under  Sullivan  in  an  ex- 
pedition against  the  Indians.  He  was  distinguished 
for  his  personal  gallantry,  and  was  honored  by  Wash- 
ington and  Congress  with  many  marks  of  grateful 
acknowledgment.  He  died  in  New  Orleans  in  1806, 
poor  in  purse  but  rich  in  glory.  His  only  son  died 
in  1798,  in  Alexandria,  Virginia,  his  widow  in  1818, 
and  his  daughter  in  1856.  He  was  the  first  Vice- 
President  of  the  German  Society  of  New  York,  with 
Steuben  as  its  President.  He  was  one  of  the  original 
members  of  the  Society  of  the  Cincinnati,  and  his 
fellow  Germans  in  that  organization  deserve  to  be 
chronicled  here,  to  show  the  appreciation  of  their 
share  in  the  great  work  of  securing  the  independence 
of  the  American  republic. 

These  original  members  were : 
Major-General  Steuben,  who  died  in   1795. 
Colonel  Henry  Emanuel  Lutterloh,  a  President  of 
the  German  Society  of  New  York. 


38  THE    GERMAN  SOLDIER   IN    THE 

Colonel  Nicholas  Fish,  of  New  York. 

Colonel  Frederick  von  Weissenfels,  of  the  Second 
New  York  Regiment. 

Major  Sebastian  Baumann,  died  1803,  of  the  Sec- 
ond New  York  Artillery  Regiment. 

Captain  Henry  Ticbout,  died  1826,  First  New 
York  Regiment. 

Captain  George  Sytez,  First  New  York  Regi- 
ment. 

Lieutenant  Peter  Anspach,  Second  New  York 
Artillery  Regiment. 

Lieutenant  Henry  Demler,  Second  New  York 
Artillery  Regiment. 

Lieutenant  Joseph  Freilich,  Second  New  York 
Regiment. 

Lieutenant  Michael  Wetzel,  Second  New  York 
Regiment. 

Lieutenant  John  Furmann,  First  New  York  Regi- 
ment. 

Lieutenant  Carl  Fr.  Weissenfels,  Second  New 
York  Regiment. 

Captain-Lieutenant  Peter  Neslett,  New  York  Ar- 
tillery. 

Captain-Lieutenant  Peter  Jaulmann,  Sappers  and 
Miners,  died  1835. 


WARS   OF   THE    UNITED   STATES.  39 

This  list  is  of  the  German  members  of  the  Society 
of  the  Cincinnati  in  New  York  alone,  and  no  doubt 
on  the  rolls  of  the  Society  in  other  States  there 
will  be  found  many  other  Germans  whose  names 
belong  to  the  roll  of  soldiers  distinguished  for  their 
services  in  the  war  of  the  Revolution. 

In  Seidensticker's  admirable  and  exhaustive  "  His- 
tory of  the  German  Society  of  Pennsylvania,"  there 
is  a  brief  mention  of  the  services  of  the  Germans  of 
Philadelphia  in  the  patriot  cause.  In  May,  1776, 
Congress  organized  a  German  regiment,  of  com- 
panies from  Pennsylvania  and  Maryland, — the  Penn- 
sylvania companies  were  five  in  number,  and  those 
from  Maryland  four.  One  of  the  Philadelphia  com- 
panies was  commanded  by  Colonel  David  Woelpper, 
an  old  soldier,  for  he  had  served  in  Germany  under 
Frederick  the  Great,  and  in  the  old  French  war 
under  Washington.  The  German  regiment  was  first 
commanded  by  Hausegger,  and  it  served  with  credit 
in  Muhlenberg's  brigade  throughout  the  Revolution. 
Other  German  companies  were  raised  at  that  time, 
and  many  Germans  served  in  various  arms  of  the 
service.  The  fines  and  penalties  imposed  on  the 
German  citizens  of  well-known  rebel  principles  are 
all  recited  in  Seidensticker's  history,  showing  how 


40  THE    GERMAN  SOLDIER  IN  THE 

strongly  the  German  element  in  and  about  Phila- 
delphia adhered  to  the  patriot  cause  even  at  the 
time  the  British  held  the  city.  In  Mr.  H.  M.  Jen- 
kins's "  History  of  Gwynedd,"  there  is  a  similar 
collection  of  evidence  as  to  the  stout  adhesion  of 
the  Germans  of  Montgomery  County  to  the  rebel 
side.  He  tells  the  story  of  one  of  their  number 
who  was  charged  with  the  serious  offence  of  giving 
information  to  the  enemy,  and  escaped  finally  severe 
punishment  on  the  merciful  ground  that  he  was  a 
weak  politician, — a  plea  that  would  cover  many 
offences  in  our  own  day  and  generation. 

John  Paul  Schott,  the  commander  of  a  battalion  in 
Armand's  legion,  was  born  in  Prussia  in  1744, 
served  as  a  cadet,  became  adjutant  of  Prince  Fer- 
dinand of  Brunswick,  came  to  America  in  1776,  was 
authorized  to  raise  an  independent  company  of  Ger- 
man dragoons,  led  the  right  wing  of  Hand's  brigade 
in  Sullivan's  army,  in  1779,  in  the  attack  on  the  Five 
Nations,  and  commanded  the  forts  in  Wyoming  Val- 
ley to  the  close  of  the  war.  He  filled  a  variety  of 
civil  offices  afterwards,  dying  in  Philadelphia  in 
1829. 

Washington's  mounted  body-guard  was  led  by 
Major  Barth.  van  Heer,  and  consisted  of  fourteen 


WARS   OF   THE    UNITED  STATES.  ^ 

officers  and  fifty-three  men,  nearly  all  Germans.  The 
First  Continental  Regiment  of  Pennsylvania  was 
commanded  by  Colonel  John  Philipp  de  Haas,  who 
was  born  in  1735,  came  to  America  in  1750,  was  en- 
sign in  the  French  war,  became  a  brigadier-general 
in  1777,  took  part  in  the  expedition  to  Canada,  and 
served  with  credit  to  the  close  of  the  war. 

Among  the  French  allied  army  sent  to  the  help 
of  the  struggling  colonies  were  many  Germans,  and 
the  investigation  of  H.  A.  Ratterman,  editor  of  the 
Pionier,  attests  both  their  number  and  influence.  It 
will  be  found  in  volume  xiii.  of  that  journal  (1881), 
at  pages  317,  360,  and  420.  Colonel  Esebeck  com- 
manded a  regiment,  "  Zweibriicken"  (the  German 
equivalent  for  the  French  "  Deux  Ponts").  In  Force's 
"  Archives"  many  of  the  details  of  others  are  given. 
At  the  time  it  was  a  matter  of  arrangement  be- 
tween neighboring  and  friendly  princes,  how  many 
of  the  men  of  one  country  should  enlist  in  the 
army  of  another.  France  had  troops  from  the 
Rhine  Provinces,  Baden,  Bavaria,  Wiirtemberg,  Ans- 
pach,  and  Switzerland  in  its  service.  With  the 
Zweibriicken  Regiment  came  the  two  princes  of 
the  name,  Major  Esebeck  in  command,  and  Captain 
Haake.  A  battalion  from  Trier  served  in  Custine's 

4* 


42  THE    GERMAN  SOLDIER  IN  THE 

regiment,  one  from  Elssass,  in  the  Bourbonnais,  a 
large  number  were  in  Lauzun's  cavalry  regiment,  and 
an  Anhalt  regiment  assisted  in  the  siege  of  Savannah. 
Among  the  German  officers  in  the  French  service 
were  Count  Fersen,  chief  of  staff  of  Rochambeau, 
besides  his  adjutant,  Von  Closen,  and  his  chief  of 
artillery,  Gau.  Count  von  Stedingk  commanded  the 
Anhalt  regiment,  and,  like  his  friend  Fersen,  be- 
longed to  the  old  Pomeranian  nobility,  although 
both  afterwards  died  in  the  Swedish  service. 

At  Yorktown  the  Germans  in  the  American  army 
fought  for  a  time  against  the  Germans  under  the 
English  flag,  and  the  commands  were  given  on  both 
sides  in  German.  A  detachment  of  Germans  placed 
the  French  flag  on  the  walls  of  Yorktown  after  its 
capture.  Among  the  prisoners  were  countrymen  of 
the  troops  put  over  them  as  a  guard,  and  many  of 
them  met  as  old  friends  and  neighbors.  When 
Tarleton  tried  to  force  his  way  out  of  the  lines,  it 
was  with  the  German  cavalry  under  Ewald,  and 
they  were  met  and  repulsed  by  the  Germans  under 
Armand.  Ratterman's  estimate  that  eleven  thou- 
sand German  soldiers  remained  in  this  country  after 
the  war,  may  well  be  credited  with  recruits  from 
both  sides.  With  the  Germans  in  the  Pennsylvania 


WARS   OF   THE    UNITED   STATES.  43 

brigade  of  Muhlenberg  and  the  Maryland  brigade 
of  Gist,  the  soldiers  of  the  German  regiments  in  the 
English  service  soon  made  friends  and  found  new 
homes.  Indeed,  the  Anspach  regiment,  two  days 
after  the  capitulation,  offered  their  services  as  a  body. 
Elking  gives  a  list  of  twenty-eight  officers  of  the 
Brunswick  regiment  who  either  remained  or  re- 
turned here  after  the  war  to  settle. 

In  the  "  History  of  the  Early  Settlement  and  In- 
dian Wars  of  Western  Virginia,"  by  Wills  de  Hass, 
(Wheeling  and  Philadelphia,  1851),  at  page  344,  is  a 
brief  biographical  sketch  of  Lewis  Wetzel,  a  typical 
borderer,  a  brave  and  successful  Indian  fighter,  and 
the  right  arm  of  the  settlers  in  their  almost  ceaseless 
war  with  the  natives.  His  father  was  one  of  the 
first  settlers  on  Wheeling  Creek,  and  was  killed  in 
1787  by  Indians,  sacrificing  his  own  life  to  save  that 
of  his  comrades.  From  that  time  the  son,  then 
almost  twenty-three  years  of  age,  and  already  well 
trained  by  his  father,  devoted  himself  to  avenging 
his  life.  At  twenty-five  he  enlisted  under  General 
Harmar,  commanding  at  Marietta,  and,  while  in  the 
army,  he  shot  an  Indian,  was  arrested,  escaped,  and 
reached  home,  in  spite  of  prison,  guard,  and  fetters. 
An  attempt  to  recapture  him  was  given  up  out  of 


44 


THE    GERMAN  SOLDIER   IN  THE 


fear  of  a  counter-rebellion  against  the  United  States 
troops,  and  when  he  did  get  into  their  hands,  General 
Harmar  promptly  released  him.  He  went  to  New 
Orleans,  was  there  arrested,  was  released  a  broken 
man,  yet  he  was  long  active  in  leading  new  set- 
tlers and  purchasers  through  the  trackless  forests  of 
Western  Virginia,  until  his  death  in  1808.  The 
name  is  perpetuated  in  Wetzel  County,  West  Vir- 
ginia, although  the  early  German  name  seems  to  have 
passed  through  numerous  variations, — Whetzell, 
Whitzell,  Watzel,  and  Wetzel, — but  of  its  German 
derivation  there  can,  of  course,  be  no  doubt.  The 
Poes,  too,  who  figure  in  this  border  history,  were 
sons  of  German  settlers,  from  Frederick  County, 
Maryland,  and  the  elder  Frederick  Poe,  who  moved 
west  in  1774,  and  died  in  1840  at  the  age  of  ninety- 
three,  was,  like  his  younger  brother,  Andrew,  a  back- 
woodsman in  every  sense  of  the  word.  Shrewd, 
active,  and  courageous,  they  fixed  their  abode  on 
the  frontier  of  civilization,  determined  to  contest 
inch  by  inch  with  the  native  Indians  their  right  to 
the  soil  and  their  privilege  to  live.  Their  hairbreadth 
escapes  and  bold  adventures  remain  even  now  among 
the  legends  of  their  early  homes,  and  fortunately  are 
preserved  in  the  pages  of  the  local  historian.  As 


WARS   OF  THE    UNITED   STATES. 


45 


late  as  1846  there  was  found  at  the  mouth  of  the 
Kanawha  one  of  the  leaden  plates  suitably  inscribed, 
bearing  date  1749,  and  asserting  the  claim  of  France 
to  the  region  watered  by  the  Ohio  River  and  its 
tributaries,  and  others  were  found  at  Venango  and 
Marietta.  Washington's  expedition  with  the  Vir- 
ginia troops  in  1754  first  made  this  region  familiar 
to  the  colonists,  and  settlements  soon  began.  From 
Pennsylvania  came  some  of  the  German  Dunkards, 
who  hoped  to  practise  the  peaceful  doctrines  of  their 
Ephrata  brethren,  but  with  them  came  others  more 
willing  to  fight  than  to  pray,  preferring  to  take  land 
by  force  rather  than  by  purchase.  Braddock's  cam- 
paign, with  its  disaster,  only  served  to  make  the 
region  better  known  to  the  Provincial  troops,  and 
from  them  came  the  best  settlers  in  the  region  thus 
opened.  The  fate  of  the  Christian  and  Moravian 
Indians,  settled  at  Gnadenhiitten,  Schonbrunn,  Salem, 
and  Lichtenau,  massacred  in  cold  blood,  is  a  per- 
manent blot  upon  the  leaders  in  that  inexcusable 
raid,  and  it  was  terribly  revenged  in  the  utter  failure 
of  the  next  attack,  in  1782. 

General  George  Weedon,  really  Gerhard  von  der 
Wieden,  was  born  in  Hanover,  served  in  the  war  of 
the  Austrian  Succession,  1742-48,  was  distinguished 


46 


THE    GERMAN  SOLDIER  IN  THE 


for  his  performance  at  the  battle  of  Dettingen,  served 
with  Colonel  Henry  Bouquet  in  Flanders,  came  with 
him  as  lieutenant  in  his  Royal  American  Regiment, 
and  served  with  it  in  the  old  French  war,  in  the  cap- 
ture of  Fort  du  Quesne,  and  in  the  campaign  against 
the  Indians.  The  war  over,  he  settled  in  Fredericks- 
burg,  Virginia,  then  largely  populated  by  Germans, 
and  when  the  Revolution  broke  out  became  captain 
and  later  on  lieutenant-colonel  of  the  Third  Virginia 
Militia,  colonel  of  the  First  Virginia  Continental,  and 
finally,  on  February  24,  1777,  brigadier-general, 

taking  a  leading  part  in  the  battles  of  Brandywine 

» 

and  Germantown;  he  left  the  service  for  a  time,  then 

in  1780  re-entered  it  under  Muhlenberg,  and  com- 
manded the  Virginia  militia  at  the  siege  of  York- 
town. 

Armahd's  legion  was  originally  organized  by 
Nicholas  Dietrich  Freiherr  von  Ottendorff,  a  Saxon 
nobleman,  lieutenant  under  Frederick  the  Great,  who 
came  to  this  country  with  Kosciuszko,  and  became 
major,  commanding  an  independent  corps  of  light 
infantry.  It  was  subsequently  reorganized  as  cavalry 
under  Armand,  Ottendorff  became  lieutenant-colonel, 
and  his  adjutant,  Howelman,  a  Hanoverian  nobleman, 
together  with  the  officers  of  the  companies,  were  all 


WARS   OF   THE    UNITED   STATES. 


47 


advanced  in  grade, — the  names  are  given  in  full  in 
the  eighth  volume  of  the  Pionier  (1876-77),  p.  436. 

Of  the  Pennsylvania  Germans  who  were  soldiers 
in  the  Revolution  the  Hiesters  were  prominent  ex- 
amples. Four  sons  of  one  family  were  officers : 
Daniel,  the  eldest,  colonel,  John  and  Gabriel,  ma- 
jors, and  William,  the  youngest,  captain ;  a  cousin, 
Joseph,  was  in  the  "  Flying  Camp,"  became  colonel, 
later  major-general  of  militia,  a  member  of  Congress, 
and  a  leader  of  his  party  in  Berks  County  down  to 
his  death  in  1832,  in  his  eightieth  year.  John  and 
Daniel,  too,  became  major-generals  of  militia,  and 
they,  too,  were  also  sent  to  Congress,  one  from 
Pennsylvania  and  the  other  from  Maryland,  where 
he  made  his  home. 

The  knowledge  of  the  early  Germans,  and  their 
share  in  our  history,  will  no  longer  be  hidden  in  the 
records  of  scattered  local  periodicals.  In  the  series 
of  "  Geschichtsblatter,  Bilder  u.  Mittheikmgen  aus 
dem  Leben  der  Deutschen  in  Amerika,  herausgege- 
ben  von  Carl  Schurz,"  published  in  New  York  by 
Steiger,  we  have  the  promise  of  a  valuable  contribu- 
tion to  our  slender  stock  of  available  information  as 
to  the  Germans  in  the  United  States.  The  first  vol- 
ume of  this  series  is  a  reprint  of  Kapp's  "  Die  Deut- 


48  THE    GERMAN  SOLDIER   IN  THE 

schen  im  Staate  New  York  wahrend  des  iSten  Jahr- 
hunderts,"  originally  published  in  Leipsic  and  New 
York,  in  1867.  At  page  126  there  is  a  list  of  the 
officers  of  the  four  battalions  organized  in  Schoharie 
Valley  by  Germans,  in  1775,  to  take  part  in  the  war 
of  independence.  All  four  colonels  were  Germans, 
viz. :  Nicholas  Herchheimer,  First  Battalion,  Canajo- 
harie ;  Jacob  Kloch,  Second  Battalion,  the  Pfalz ; 
Friedrich  Fischer,  Third  Battalion,  Mohawk  ;  Hanjost 
Herchheimer,  Fourth  Battalion,  German  Flats.  The 
Herchheimers  were  the  sons  of  an  early  German  set- 
tler in  Western  New  York,  who  had  won  distinction 
by  his  gallant  defence  against  Indian  attacks  in  the 
old  French  war.  General  Nicholas  Herchheimer,  who 
fell  in  battle  in  1777  in  defence  of  the  liberties  of  his 
country,  was  honored  with  the  praise  of  Washington, 
and  by  a  modest  monument  which  perpetuates  his 
services  and  sacrifice.  One  of  his  soldiers,  born  in 
Germany,  J.  A.  Hartmann,  survived  until  1836,  when 
he  died  at  the  age  of  ninety-two,  after  an  old  age  of 
poverty,  borne  with  fortitude,  and  his  name  is  now 
best  remembered  in  his  old  home,  where  he  lived  at 
the  public  expense,  as  an  example  of  the  tardy  grati- 
tude of  the  republic  he  too  had  aided  to  establish. 
Herchheimer  is  the  type  of  the  well-to-do  settlers 


WARS   OF  THE    UNITED  STATES. 


49 


of  German  descent,  Hartmann  of  the  poor  emigrant, 
but  both  did  their  duty  manfully  in  the  struggle  for 
independence,  and  thus  set  an  example  freely  fol- 
lowed by  others,  Germans  both  by  birth  and  descent, 
who  fought  for  the  Union. 

Among  the  leading  German  soldiers  of  the  Revo- 
lutionary war  from  New  York,  was  Hermann  von 
Zedwitz,  major  of  the  First  Regiment;  his  life  is 
sketched  by  Alfred  Schiicking  in  volume  iii.,  p.  185, 
of  the  Pionier.  The  command  of  Montreal  was  given 
to  Colonel  Rudolph  Witzema  of  the  same  regiment, 
an  old  officer  in  the  Royal  Colonial  army,  who  left 
the  Continental  army  under  a  cloud,  returned  to 
England,  and  died  there  in  1803. 

The  share  of  the  Germans  as  officers  and  soldiers 
on  the  patriot  side  in  the  war  of  the  Revolution  won 
them  the  confidence  and  gratitude  of  Washington. 
The  Hessians  under  Riedesel,  who  surrendered  with 
Burgoyne,  were  sent  to  Virginia,  where  they  lived 
near  Jefferson,  who  thus  learned  to  know  them,  gave 
them  the  use  of  his  library,  and  enjoyed  their 
music. 

The  second  volume  of  Schurz's  series,  "  Bilder  aus 
der  Deutsch  Pennsylvanischen  Geschichte,"  is  from 
the  pen  of  Professor  Oswald  Seidensticker,  whose 

S 


50  THE    GERMAN  SOLDIER  IN  THE 

services  in  the  cause  of  our  local  German  history 
have  received  general  acknowledgment  for  their 
thoroughness  and  accuracy.  He  describes  in  detail 
the  part  taken  by  the  Germans  of  Pennsylvania  in 
both  the  Continental  army  under  Washington  and 
the  Provincial  or  State  militia,  and  gives  the  names 
of  the  officers  of  the  German  Battalion,  and  their 
share  in  the  war  of  independence.  In  the  Second, 
Third,  Fifth,  Sixth,  and  Eighth  Pennsylvania  Regi- 
ments were  many  Germans.  The  Second  was  com- 
manded by  Colonel  Philippe  de  Haas ;  the  lieutenant- 
colonel  of  the  Third  was  Robert  Bunner,  who  fell  at 
Monmouth,  in  1778;  and  Mentges  of  the  Fifth  and 
Becker  of  the  Sixth  were  also  Germans.  Many  of 
these  were  members  of  the  German  Society,  and 
Colonel  Farmer,  first  captain  of  a  company  of  sharp- 
shooters, and  later  commissary-general,  was  four 
times  president  of  the  German  Society  after  the 
war. 

Reading  sent  three  Hiesters,  and  York  many  Ger- 
mans, in  the  regiments  that  served  in  the  Revolution. 
Pennsylvania  Germans  were  numerous  in  Armand's 
legion,  in  Schott's  dragoons,  and  in  Van  Heer's 
cavalry  brigade.  Quakers,  Mennonites,  Bunkers, 
and  Herrnhiiters  sacrificed  their  religious  tenets 


WARS   OF   THE    UNITED   STATES.  $i 

and  associations  to  serve  their  country,  while  the 
Lutherans  and  others  who  had  no  conscientious 
scruples  against  bearing  arms,  were  well  represented 
in  the  field.  Foremost  among  these  was  General 
Muhlenberg,  born  in  Montgomery  County  in  1746, 
the  son  of  the  oldest  clergyman  of  the  Lutheran 
Church  in  Pennsylvania,  who  destined  all  his  three 
sons  to  follow  him  in  the  church,  educated  at  Halle, 
settled  in  1772  in  Virginia,  as  pastor  of  a  German 
Lutheran  congregation  in  the  Shenandoah  Valley. 
He  there  became  a  friend  of  Patrick  Henry  and  Wash- 
ington. Earnestly  supporting  the  cause  of  Ameri- 
can independence,  he  became  colonel  of  the  Eighth 
Virginia,  with  Abraham  Bowman  and  Peter  Helfen- 
stein  as  his  field-officers.  In  January,  1776,  he 
preached  his  last  sermon,  urging  on  his  hearers  the 
duty  of  patriotic  devotion  to  the  cause  of  the 
country,  and  then,  throwing  aside  the  clerical  gown, 
showed  his  military  uniform,  and  instantly  over  three 
hundred  of  his  listeners  followed  his  example  and 
joined  his  regiment.  Congress  soon  made  him  a 
brigadier-general,  and  throughout  the  war  his  zeal, 
his  courage,  his  energy,  were  appreciated  by  Wash- 
ington and  Lafayette,  and  the  other  leaders  of  the 
Revolution.  His  part  in  the  final  surrender  of  Corn- 


52  THE    GERMAN  SOLDIER   IN   THE 

wallis  at  Yorktown  made  him  a  major-general,  and 
yet  so  modest  was  he  that  when  peace  returned  his 
old  parishioners  would  gladly  have  made  him  once 
more  their  pastor.  Seven  years  of  war  had,  how- 
ever, changed  the  current  of  his  thoughts,  and  set- 
tling in  Philadelphia,  he  became  vice-president  of  the 
State,  under  Franklin,  and,  owing  to  Franklin's  age 
and  infirmities,  was  practically  the  head  of  the  gov- 
ernment. In  1788  he  and  his  brother  worked  ener- 
getically to  secure  the  adoption  of  the  Constitution 
of  1789,  and  under  it  he  sat  in  the  First  Congress, 
as  well  as  in  the  Second  and  the  Sixth,  always  a  stout 
advocate  of  the  Democratic  party ;  he  was  three 
times  president  of  the  German  Society.  His  de- 
scendants, and  those  of  his  venerable  father,  have 
served  the  state  and  the  church  in  many  ways,  and 
always  with  honor  to  their  German  blood.  His 
statue  stands  in  the  Capitol  at  Washington,  as  the 
representative  man  chosen  by  Pennsylvania  to  take 
a  place  among  the  heroes  gathered  there  from  all 
parts  of  the  country.  His  name  and  his  fame  are  part 
of  the  inheritance  which  the  German  population  of 
Pennsylvania  transmits  to  future  generations  to  show 
how  thoroughly  the  German  element  has  done  its 
duty  alike  in  war  and  in  peace,  and  how  well  it 


WARS   OF  THE    UNITED  STATES.  53 

deserves  to  have  its  record  preserved  and  published 
for  the  information  of  their  descendants  and  of  the 
country. 

Many  of  the  early  settlers  of  Kentucky  were  Ger- 
mans from  Virginia  and  North  Carolina,  and  they 
held  the  frontier  outposts  against  the  incursions  of 
hostile  Indians.  Many  old  Revolutionary  soldiers 
there  found  homes,  and  their  sons  were  active  in  the 
war  of  1812.  Frankfort,  the  capital  of  the  State, 
owes  its  name  to  its  German  founders,  for  the  most 
part  emigrants  from  Frankfort-on-the-Main,  and  its 
vicinity,  who  came  hither  in  1786-87.  The  first  phy- 
sician was  Dr.  Louis  Marschall,  father  of  Humphrey 
Marshall,  noted  in  both  the  civil  and  military  his- 
tory of  Kentucky.  Thus  many  of  the  German  names 
were  anglicized,  some — e.g.,  Jager  translated  into 
Hunter — completely  disguised,  yet  the  industry  of 
local  historians  has  shown  that  a  very  large  part 
of  the  early  settlement  of  Kentucky  was  made  by 
Germans. 

Among  the  soldiers  of  German  descent  a  marked 
and  exceptional  case  is  that  of  General  John  A. 
Quitman.  He  was  the  son  of  the  pastor  of  the 
German  Lutheran  Church  of  Schoharie,  who  was 
himself  born  in  Iserlohn,  Germany,  and  came  to  this 

5* 


54 


THE    GERMAN  SOLDIER  IN  THE 


country  in  1/95.  The  father  was  a  strong,  deter- 
mined man,  with  a  high  notion  of  his  own  impor- 
tance, who  showed  a  will  of  his  own  not  unlike  that 
of  the  son.  The  elder  Quitman  left  Schoharie  to 
become  pastor  of  the  church  in  Rheinbeck,  where 
he  died  in  1832.  His  son  was  born  there  in  1798, 
and  educated  by  his  father's  successor.  As  a  young 
man  he  went  South,  became  a  distinguished  lawyer 
and  member  of  Congress  from  his  new  home  in 
Natchez,  Mississippi,  took  a  leading  place  among 
the  general  officers  of  volunteers  in  the  Mexican 
war,  was  prominent  in  urging  on  the  people  of 
the  South  the  extreme  doctrines  of  States'  rights, 
rejoicing  in  the  name  of  fire-eater,  and  was  generally 
looked  on  as  the  intellectual  leader  of  the  agitation 
which  finally  ended  in  the  Rebellion  of  1861.  His 
death,  in  1858,  saved  him  from  sharing  in  the  de- 
vastation his  theories  had  brought  over  the  section 
which  accepted  him  as  their  representative. 

In  the  Revolution  there  were  adherents  of  Whigs 
and  Tories  even  in  the  same  family,  and  this  was 
as  true  of  the  Germans  as  of  the  other  nationalities 
settled  in  the  colonies ;  but  in  the  Rebellion  the  mi- 
nority in  either  of  the  two  great  sections  into  which 
the  country  was  divided  had  little  power  or  influence 


WARS   OF   THE    UNITED   STATES. 


55 


to  stem  the  tide  that  finally  led  to  the  success  of 
the  Union.  Still,  the  Germans  were  found  on  both 
sides,  for  the  self-reliant,  independent  character  of 
the  German  leads  him  to  choose  his  own  course, 
and  to  adhere  to  it  in  spite  of  popular  opposition. 
In  Arkansas,  Klingelhoffer,  son  of  the  founder  of  a 
German  colony  at  Little  Rock,  became  an  officer 
of  the  Confederate  army. 

The  registers  and  rolls  of  the  regular  army  of  the 
United  States  bear  the  names  of  many  distinguished 
soldiers  of  German  birth  and  descent,  and  not  a  few 
of  them  brought  to  the  service  of  their  new  father- 
land the  training  and  experience  acquired  in  their 
native  country.  In  the  exhaustive  dictionaries  of 
the  army  by  Gardiner  and  Henry  and  Hamersly, 
and  in  the  invaluable  pages  of  General  George  W. 
Cullum's  "  Record  of  the  Graduates  of  West  Point," 
are  found  many  examples  of  the  German  soldier  in 
the  army  of  the  United  States.  One  example  de- 
serves special  mention. 

John  Baptiste  de  Earth,  Baron  de  Walbach,  brig- 
adier-general and  colonel  commanding  Fourth  Ar- 
tillery, U.S.A.,  was  the  third  son  of  Count  Joseph 
de  Barth  and  Marie  Therese  de  Rohmer.  He  was 
born  in  Munster,  Valley  of  St.  Gregory,  Upper 


ij  6  THE    GERMAN  SOLDIER  IN  THE 

Rhine,  Germany,  on  the  3d  day  of  October,  1766, 
and  was  educated  at  the  military  school  at  Stras- 
bourg. In  December,  1792,  he  entered  as  a  cadet 
the  company  commanded  by  Baron  de  Wald,  Regi- 
ment of  Royal  Alsace,  Prince  Maximillian  of  Deux 
Fonts  colonel  and  proprietor,  in  the  service  of  the 
King  of  France.  He  was  promoted  and  served  in 
the  same  regiment  as  ensign  until  October,  1783, 
and  then  until  November  as  gentleman  volunteer  in 
the  hussars,  General  Baron  de  Kellerman  command- 
ing. From  January,  1783,  until  January  9,  1784, 
he  served  in  the  Regiment  of  Luzern  Hussars, 
when  he  received  the  appointment  of  sub-lieutenant 
(cornet),  and  continued  to  serve  in  the  successive 
grades,  second  lieutenant,  first  lieutenant,  until  May, 
1792,  and  captain.  Declining  the  commission  of 
captain,  he  left  France  to  join  the  armies  of  the 
Prince,  brother  of  King  Louis  XVI.  He  served 
in  this  army  as  gentleman  volunteer,  on  horseback, 
at  his  own  expense,  under  Colonel  Count  de  Pes- 
talozzi,  his  former  colonel  of  the  Luzern  Hussars. 
With  this  corps  he  made  the  campaign  in  Cham- 
pagne, in  1792,  in  the  advance  of  the  Prussian  army, 
until  it  was  disbanded  at  Maestrich.  He  then  left 
Liege,  passed  through  the  French  lines  to  Treves, 


WARS   OF   THE    UNITED   STATES.  57 

and  brought  back  his  sister,  Mme.  Blondeau,  and 
placed  her,  with  their  three  children,  under  the  care 
of  her  husband,  lieutenant-colonel,  formerly  major, 
of  artillery,  who  had  served  in  the  army  of  Rocham- 
beau  in  America.  He  then  went  to  Germany,  took 
part  in  the  attack  on  Frankfort,  January  6,  1793, 
and  later  joined  the  Sixty-second  Company,  First 
Battalion  of  the  Austrian  Chasseurs  of  Conde, 
serving,  during  the  campaign  of  1793,  in  attacks 
on  the  French  lines  at  Germersheim,  Yorkheim, 
Langenkardet,  and  Weissembourg,  where  the  Aus- 
trians  captured  one  hundred  and  fifty-five  pieces  of 
cannon ;  the  losses  in  both  armies  being  estimated 
at  twenty-two  thousand  men.  He  then  accepted 
a  captaincy  from  the  Prince  de  Rohan,  and  covered 
the  retreat  of  the  unfortunate  army  of  the  Duke  of 
York  northward  to  Holland  and  Germany.  Finally 
he  embarked  with  his  regiment,  the  Hussars  of 
Rohan,  for  the  British  West  Indies,  on  the  promise 
of  the  British  Government  that  they  should  always 
serve  on  horseback,  and  that  at  the  end  of  four 
years  they  were  to  be  returned  to  their  homes. 
In  1798,  being  then  the  third  officer  of  the  regi-. 
ment,  which  had  been  reduced  by  yellow  fever 
from  twelve  hundred  to  one  hundred  and  thirty, 


58  THE    GERMAN  SOLDIER   IN   THE 

he  obtained  leave  for  six  months  to  visit  his  father, 
who  had  come  to  America  at  the  outbreak  of  the 
French  Revolution.  With  twenty-four  other  noble- 
men he  had  agreed  to  buy  forty  thousand  acres 
of  land  on  the  Scioto  River,  Ohio,  paying  half  the 
purchase-money  to  Joel  Barlow  and  William  Play- 
fair,  agents  in  Paris  of  Colonel  William  Duer,  ac- 
credited by  a  letter  from  Thomas  Jefferson.  Count 
de  Barth  sailed  with  three  hundred  emigrants,  landed 
in  Alexandria,  Virginia,  in  March,  1790,  and  then 
proceeded  to  Marietta,  Ohio,  where  he  found  that 
Duer  had  become  a  bankrupt.  He  returned  to  Phil- 
adelphia, purchased  a  country-seat, — Springettsbury 
Manor,  Bush  Hill,  a  mansion  with  sixty  acres, — but 
he  died  there  September  24,  1793,  and  was  buried 
in  St.  Mary's  Roman  Catholic  Church  in  Philadel- 
phia. Bush  Hill  was  occupied  as  a  hospital  during 
the  yellow  fever,  and  as  there  was  no  one  author- 
ized to  make  the  last  payment,  it  was  sold  by  the 
sheriff  and  passed  from  the  family.  In  1798  Colonel, 
then  Major,  Walbach,  on  his  arrival,  retained  Messrs. 
William  Rawle,  Jared  Ingersoll,  and  James  Heatly, 
but  owing  to  the  loss  of  documents  could  obtain  no 
redress.  Major  Walbach  then  resigned  his  com- 
mission as  major  in  the  Hussars  of  Rohan  and 


WARS   OF  THE    UNITED   STATES. 


59 


became  an  adopted  citizen  of  the  United  States. 
In  the  autumn  of  1798  he  entered  the  army  of  the 
United  States  on  the  invitation  of  Washington, 
Hamilton,  and  McHenry,  as  second  lieutenant  of 
cavalry,  and  was  appointed  adjutant  of  a  cavalry 
regiment,  holding  that  post  until  the  corps  was 
disbanded  in  June,  1/99.  He  then  was  employed 
in  the  office  of  the  Adjutant- General  of  the  United 
States,  General  William  North,  who  had  been  aid 
to  General  Steuben.  In  December,  1799,  he  was 
employed  to  assist  General  Charles  C.  Pinckney  in 
preparing  regulations  for  the  cavalry,  and  later  to 
assist  General  Hamilton  in  preparing  regulations 
for  the  artillery,  and  afterwards  he  was  ordered  to 
report  to  General  Washington,  to  take  charge  of 
a  detachment  of  dragoons.  He  was  appointed,  in 
1801,  first  lieutenant  in  the  First  Regiment  of  Ar- 
tillery and  Engineers,  and  in  1802  aid  to  General 
Wilkinson;  in  1804,  adjutant  of  artillery  and  mili- 
tary agent  at  Fort  Constitution,  New  Hampshire;  in 
1806,  captain  of  artillery;  in  1812,  assistant  deputy 
quartermaster;  in  1813,  assistant  adjutant-general 
with  the  rank  of  major,  and  assistant  adjutant- 
general  with  the  rank  of  colonel,  and  brevet  major, 
for  gallant  conduct  at  the  battle  of  Chrystler's  Fields; 


6Q  THE    GERMAN  SOLDIER  IN  THE 

in  1815,  major  of  artillery  and  brevet  lieutenant- 
colonel;  in  1830,  brevet  colonel  for  ten  years'  further 
service,  and  lieutenant-colonel  in  the  First  Regiment 
of  Artillery;  in  1842,  colonel  of  the  Fourth  Regi- 
ment of  Artillery,  and  made  commander  at  Fortress 
Monroe  and  brevet  brigadier-general;  and  in  1851 
he  was  assigned  to  the  command  of  the  Depart- 
ment of  the  East.  He  died  in  Baltimore,  Maryland, 
on  the  loth  of  June,  1857,  °f  disease  contracted  in 
the  war  of  1812.  A  highly  commendatory  order  was 
issued  by  General  Scott,  lieutenant-general  com- 
manding at  the  time  of  his  death,  reciting  his  long 
military  career,  his  distinguished  services,  and  his 
unwavering  integrity,  truth,  and  honor,  strict  atten- 
tion to  duty,  and  zeal  for  the  service,  tempering 
the  administration  of  an  exact  discipline  by  the 
most  elevated  courtesies.  General  George  W.  Cul- 
lum,  in  his  "  Campaigns  and  Engineers  of  the  War 
of  1812-15,"  at  page  168,  credits  him  with  saving  the 
artillery  at  Chrystler's  Fields  in  1813.  His  grand- 
son, John  de  Barth  Walbach  Gardiner,  is  an  assist- 
ant surgeon  in  the  United  States  army.  His  son, 
L.  de  B.  Walbach,  who  died  in  1853,  was  a  graduate 
of  West  Point  and  a  captain  of  ordnance.  Another 
son  died  an  officer  of  the  United  States  navy. 


WARS   OF   THE    UNITED  STATES.  gj 

General  Walbach  is  well  remembered  by  old  offi- 
cers of  the  regular  army  as  a  fine  soldierly  charac- 
ter, full  of  zeal  and  pride  in  his  profession,  and  a 
man  of  many  manly  virtues  and  attractive  qualities. 
His  brother  was  a  Roman  Catholic  priest  in  Balti- 
more, and  in  their  old  age  these  two  men,  living 
together,  were  typical  examples  of  the  professions 
of  war  and  peace.* 

Among  the  early  graduates  of  West  Point,  a  not- 
able example  of  the  way  in  which  Germany  has  sup- 
plied our  army  with  officers  is  the  case  of  Julius  F. 
Heileman,  son  of  the  surgeon  of  Riedesel's  German 
Brigade  in  Burgoyne's  army;  he  was  appointed  a 
cadet  in  1803,  and  rose  to  be  major  of  the  Second 
Artillery,  when  he  fell  in  Florida,  in  1836. 

George  Nauman  was  a  graduate  of  West  Point  in 
1823,  who  rose  by  slow  but  good  service,  and  died  as 
lieutenant-colonel  of  the  First  Artillery  in  Philadel- 
phia in  1863.  He  was  born  in  Pennsylvania  sixty 
years  before. 

*The  battle  of  Leipsic,  the  turning-point  of  the  uprising  of  Ger- 
many against  Napoleon,  was  celebrated  in  Philadelphia  by  German 
citizens,  with  toasts  in  honor  of  the  Emperor  of  Russia,  the  burning 
of  Moscow,  Bliicher,  the  German  Princes,  and  the  Patriots  of  South 
America. 

6 


62  THE    GERMAN  SOLDIER  IN  THE 

General  Ammen,  who  was  distinguished  during  the 
Rebellion,  was  a  native  of  Virginia,  a  graduate  of 
West  Point  in  1831,  had  resigned  to  engage  in  teach- 
ing and  engineering,  and,  when  the  war  broke  out, 
re-entered  the  service  as  colonel  of  the  Twenty- 
fourth  Ohio;  as  a  brigadier-general,  he  served  with 
great  bravery  in  the  West. 

Edmund  Schriver  and  Alexander  Shiras  were  grad- 
uates of  1833,  and  both  were  born  in  Pennsylvania. 
Their  services  in  the  Rebellion  were  highly  appre- 
ciated. 

Herman  Haupt,  a  graduate  of  1835,  was  born  in 
Philadelphia,  and,  besides  his  services  in  the  field,  has 
been  a  pioneer  in  the  great  business  of  railroad  build- 
ing across  the  continent.  His  son  graduated  in  1867. 

Luther  and  Roland  and  Hagner,  all  of  the  class  of 
1836,  bore  good  Pennsylvania  German  names. 

The  Muhlenbergs  have  had  a  representative,  and 
often  more  than  one,  in  the  regular  army  since  the 
time  of  the  early  Pennsylvania  soldier  down  to  our 
own  day,  and  all  have  done  honor  to  a  name  that  is 
looked,  on  as  one  fittingly  chosen  as  the  type  of  the 
Pennsylvania  soldier  and  statesman.  The  Muhlen- 
bergs, six  at  least,  fill  an  honored  place  on  the  regis- 
ters of  the  regular  army,  in  which  they  have  a  right 


WARS   OF   THE    UNITED  STATES.  63 

by  descent  from  patriot  ancestors  of  the  Revolu- 
tion. 

General  S.  P.  Heintzelman,  a  veteran  of  the  regular 
army,  was  born  in  Lancaster  County  in  1805.  His 
grandfather,  a  native  of  Augsburg,  was  the  first  white 
settler  in  Manheim,  where  his  grandson  was  educated 
until  he  went  to  West  Point  in  1826.  He  was  pro- 
moted and  brevetted  for  his  gallantry  in  the  Mexican 
war,  and  at  the  outbreak  of  the  Rebellion  became 
colonel  of  the  Seventeenth  United  States  Infantry. 
At  Bull  Run  he  was  wounded ;  on  the  Peninsula  he 
commanded  a  corps,  and  throughout  the  war  he  was 
always  on  duty. 

Francis  Lieber  was  born  in  Berlin  in  1800;  he 
grew  up  in  the  midst  of  the  earnest  aspirations  of 
Germany  for  freedom  from  the  French  yoke,  and  at 
the  age  of  fifteen,  following  the  example  of  his  elder 
brothers,  and  with  the  approval  of  his  parents,  en- 
listed in  the  Colberg  Regiment  under  Bliicher.  He 
began  his  short  experience  of  war  at  Ligny,  was 
wounded,  and  returned  after  the  campaign  of  Water- 
loo to  resume  his  work  as  a  school-boy.  With  the 
other  young  Turners,  he  followed  Jahn  in  his  plan  for 
political  as  well  as  physical  regeneration,  and  with 
his  leader  he  was  imprisoned  for  excess  of  patriotism. 


64  THE    GERMAN  SOLDIER   IN  THE 

His  four  months'  confinement  was  not  in  itself  a 
great  hardship,  but  it  carried  with  it  a  prohibition  to 
study  in  any  Prussian  university,  and  this  implied  his 
exclusion  from  public  employment.  He  studied  at 
Jena,  Halle,  and  Dresden,  and  then  at  twenty-one 
took  part  in  the  Greek  struggle,  with  very  unsatis- 
factory results. 

Then,  encouraged  by  Niebuhr,  in  whose  family  he 
had  been  employed  in  Rome,  he  returned  to  Berlin, 
only  to  be  again  imprisoned,  an  enforced  idleness 
which  he  used  in  the  composition  of  a  volume  of 
poems  of  the  merriest  kind ;  after  trying  in  vain  to 
secure  a  stable  position,  he  freed  himself  from  the  un- 
comfortable results  of  his  early  patriotism  by  coming 
to  America,  where  he  arrived  in  1827.  He  estab- 
lished a  swimming-school  in  Boston  after  the  model 
of  those  of  Germany,  but  soon  undertook  a  very 
great  work, — the  preparation  of  the  "  Encyclopaedia 
Americana,"  based  on  Brockhaus's  "  Conversations 
Lexicon,"  published  in  Philadelphia,  which  then  be- 
came the  scene  of  his  active  literary  labors.  He  pre- 
pared an  elaborate  scheme  for  the  management  of 
Girard  College,  and  began  his  independent  author- 
ship. He  went  to  the  University  of  South  Carolina, 
in  1835,  as  Professor  of  History  and  Political  Econ- 


WARS   OF  THE    UNITED  STATES.  65 

omy.     There  he  wrote  and  taught  until   1857,  when 
he  gladly  left  the  South. 

When  the  Rebellion  broke  out  he  was  quietly 
settled  at  Columbia  College  in  New  York,  but  one 
of  his  sons  went  into  the  Confederate  service,  another 
with  the  Illinois  troops  into  the  Union  army,  and  a 
third  got  a  commission  in  the  regular  army,  and  he 
himself  began  his  work  as  legal  adviser  to  the  govern- 
ment on  questions  of  military  and  international  law 
by  preparing  a  code  of  instructions  for  the  govern- 
ment of  armies  of  the  United  States  in  the  field,  and 
from  that  time  on  he  was  in  constant  employment  in 
that  direction,  putting  his  vast  store  of  learning  at 
the  disposition  of  the  authorities  on  every  fitting 
occasion.  He  maintained  a  close  correspondence 
with  the  leading  German  professors  Bluntschli,  Mohl, 
Holtzendorff,  and  did  much  to  secure  in  Germany  a 
proper  appreciation  of  the  great  work  done  for  the 
world  by  securing  the  perpetuation  of  the  American 
Union,  and  later  on  to  make  America  alive  to  the 
merits  of  the  great  struggle  with  France  which  se- 
cured German  unity.  His  busy  life  ended  in  1872, 
and  his  best  epitaph  was  his  own  favorite  motto, 
"  Patria  Cara,  Carior  Libertas,  Veritas  Carissima,"  for 
Country,  Liberty,  and  Truth,  were  the  great  aims 

6* 


66  THE    GERMAN  SOLDIER  IN   THE 

in  all  he  wrote  and  spoke  and  thought.  His  ser- 
vices were  of  a  kind  not  often  within  the  reach  and 
range  of  a  single  life,  and  his  memory  deserves  to 
be  honored  and  kept  green  in  both  his  native  and 
his  adopted  country.  He  was  well  represented  in 
the  Union  cause  by  his  two  sons,  Hamilton,  who 
served  in  the  Ninety-second  Illinois,  and  died  in 
1876,  an  officer  of  the  regular  army,  and  Guido, 
still  in  the  regular  service,  through  whom  his  name 
is  perpetuated  in  the  army  register,  while  the  death 
of  another  son  on  the  Confederate  side  was  another 
sacrifice  to  the  cause  of  the  Union. 

His  "  Instructions  for  Armies  in  the  Field,"  Gen- 
eral Order  No.  100,  published  by  the  Government  of 
the  United  States,  April  24,  1863,  were  the  first  codi- 
fication of  international  articles  of  war,  and  marked 
an  epoch  in  the  history  of  international  law  and  of 
civilization.  His  other  contributions  to  military  and 
to  international  law,  published  at  various  times  during 
the  civil  war,  together  with  his  other  miscellaneous 
writings  on  political  science,  have  been  reprinted  in 
the  two  volumes  of  his  works  issued  by  J.  B.  Lippin- 
cott  &  Co.,  in  1 88 1,  and  these,  with  his  memoirs  and 
the  tributes  paid  him  by  President  Gilman  and  Judge 
Thayer,  are  his  best  monument.  A  memoir  by  T.  S. 


WARS   OF  THE    UNITED   STATES.  67 

Perry  well  deserves  attention,  and  the  German  trans- 
lation, edited  by  Holtzendorff,  shows  ^Lieber's  popu- 
larity in  Germany. 

General  August  V.  Kautz  was  born  in  Baden  in 
1828,  and  came  as  a  lad  to  this  country,  where  his 
family  settled  in  Ohio.  At  the  outbreak  of  the 
Mexican  war  he  enlisted  in  the  First  Ohio  Regi- 
ment, and  was  rewarded  for  his  services  by  being 
appointed  a  lieutenant  in  the  regular  army.  He  was 
captain  of  cavalry  at  the  outbreak  of  the  Rebellion, 
commanded  his  regiment,  the  Sixth  Cavalry,  under 
McClellan,  in  the  operations  before  Richmond,  was 
appointed  colonel  of  the  Second  Ohio  Cavalry  and 
chief  of  cavalry  of  the  Twenty-third  Corps,  and 
brevetted  major-general  in  both  the  volunteer  and 
regular  service.  He  became  lieutenant-colonel  of 
the  Fifteenth  Infantry  after  the  war,  is  now  colonel 
of  the  Eighth  Infantry,  and  is  the  author  of  some 
excellent  works  on  various  subjects  of  military 
science. 

Brevet  Lieutenant-Colonel  Alfred  Mordecai,  of  the 
Ordnance  Department  of  the  United  States  army,  is  a 
graduate  of  West  Point,  of  the  class  of  June,  1861, 
and  is  now  major  of  his  corps.  His  scientific  ser- 
vices have  been  recognized  both  in  and  out  of  the 


68  THE    GERMAN  SOLDIER  IN   THE 

army.  He  is  the  son  of  a  distinguished  officer  of  the 
regular  army,  Major  A.  Mordecai,  of  the  class  of 
1823,  whose  military  record  was  a  very  brilliant  one; 
his  name  is  familiar  as  the  author,  with  General 
McClellan  and  General  Delafield,  of  an  admirable 
report  of  their  visit  to  Europe  and  to  the  Crimea 
during  the  Russian  war  of  1854.  His  grandfather 
was  a  German.  Father  and  son  have  both  con- 
tributed to  the  science  of  their  branch  of  the  mili- 
tary profession,  ordnance;  and  the  elder,  Major 
Mordecai,  gave  the  first  impulse  to  Professor 
Henry's  application  of  electricity  to  ballistics, — 
the  art  of  measuring  the  velocity  of  projectiles, 
now  become  a  matter  of  every-day  use  in  all  arse- 
nals throughout  the  world. 

General  George  A.  Custer,  one  of  the  most  pictu- 
resque characters  of  the  war  and  an  exceptional 
soldier  in  his  Indian  campaigns,  was  the  great- 
grandson  of  an  officer  of  the  Hessian  soldiers  sent 
here  to  serve  in  the  British  army  during  the  Revo- 
lution. His  ancestor,  paroled  in  1778,  after  Bur- 
goyne's  surrender,  settled  in  Pennsylvania,  married 
there,  changed  his  German  name,  "  Kiister,"  to  one 
easier  to  pronounce  in  English,  and  moved  to  Mary- 
land, where  the  father  of  General  Custer  was  born 


WARS   OF  THE    UNITED   STATES.  go, 

in  1806.  His  famous  son  was  born  in  Ohio,  in 
1839,  as  a  boy  taught  school  in  his.  native  village, 
Hopedale,  until  1857,  when  he  was  appointed  a  cadet 
at  West  Point.  Graduating  there  in  June,  1861, 
he  was  assigned  to  the  Second  Cavalry,  served  with 
distinction,  was  made  a  captain  on  the  staff  of  Gen- 
eral McClellan,  served  with  General  Kearney  and 
General  Pleasonton,  was  appointed  a  brigadier-gen- 
eral for  his  gallantry  at  the  battle  of  Aldie,  and 
commanded,  successively,  a  brigade  and  a  division 
of  cavalry,  which  he  led  with  distinguished  bravery. 
He  was  promoted  to  be  a  major-general  of  volun- 
teers, a  brevet  major-general  of  the  United  States 
army,  and  lieutenant-colonel  of  the  Seventh  Cav- 
alry, served  under  General  Hancock  in  a  series  of 
campaigns  against  the  Indians,  and  finally  fell  in 
battle  with  the  Sioux.  He  was  the  author  of  many 
capital  contributions  to  the  periodical  literature  after 
the  civil  war,  and  his  memory  is  preserved  in  his 
wife's  charming  little  book,  "  Military  Life  on  the 
Frontiers,"  and  in  the  "  Life  of  General  Custer,"  by 
F.  Whittaker,  published  shortly  after  his  heroic  death 
in  June,  1876. 

Lieutenant  John  T.   Greble,  of  the    Second    Ar- 
tillery, a   graduate  of  West  Point,   of  the   class   of 


70  THE    GERMAN  SOLDIER  IN   THE 

1854,  is  well  remembered  as  the  first  officer  of  the 
regular  army  to  fall  in  the  war  of  the  Rebellion. 
Born  in  Philadelphia  in  1834,  he  was  killed  in  ac- 
tion, at  Big  Bethel,  Virginia,  on  the  roth  of  June, 
1861.  He  was  one  of  the  most  popular  officers  in 
the  service,  distinguished  alike  for  gallantry  and 
attainments.  He,  too,  was  of  German  descent,  and 
the  traditions  of  the  family  were  all  patriotic.  His 
great-grandfather,  Andrew  Greble,  a  native  of  Saxe- 
Gotha,  came  to  this  country  in  1742,  settled  per- 
manently in  Philadelphia,  and  enlisted  warmly  in 
the  cause  of  the  war  of  Independence.  He  and  his 
four  sons  joined  the  American  army,  and  fought  at 
the  battles  of  Princeton  and  Monmouth.  Two  of 
his  ancestors  on  his  mother's  side,  good  Welsh 
Quakers,  were  in  the  Continental  army.  A  gradu- 
ate of  the  Philadelphia  High  School,  he  showed  at 
West  Point  and  in  the  army  a  love  of  study,  which, 
with  his  amiable  manners  and  soldierly  conduct, 
secured  him  the  friendship  of  all  with  whom  he 
was  brought  in  contact.  After  serving  in  Florida, 
he  was  appointed  to  the  corps  of  instructors  at  West 
Point,  and  was  on  duty  at  Fortress  Monroe  when 
the  civil  war  broke  out.  His  untimely  death  was 
due  to  his  deliberate  purpose  to  sacrifice  his  life  to 


WARS  OF   THE    UNITED  STATES.  ^ 

save  the  lives  of  the  large  body  of  soldiers  imper- 
illed by  an  overwhelming  force.  His  heroism  had 
its  reward  in  the  gratitude  with  which  his  memory 
is  cherished  both  in  the  army  and  by  the  people. 
His  son,  Lieutenant  Edwin  St.  John  Greble,  a  grad- 
uate of  the  class  of  1881,  is  now  serving  with  the 
Second  United  States  Artillery. 

William  Heine  was  born  in  1827,  died  in  Dres- 
den, his  native  city,  in  October,  1885.  He  learned 
landscape  and  architectural  painting  in  Paris,  and 
was  employed  as  a  painter  at  the  Dresden  Court 
Theatre,  but,  after  the  revolution  of  1848  in  Sax- 
ony, came  to  the  United  States  in  1851;  he  trav- 
elled in  Central  America,  which  he  described  in 
"  Wanderbilder  aus  Centralamerika,"  Leipzig,  1853. 
He  subsequently  joined  Perry's  expedition  to  Japan, 
and,  in  1860,  the  Prussian  expedition  to  the  same 
country,  describing  it  in  his  "Japan,  Beitrage  zur 
Kentniss  des  Landes  u.s.  Bewohner,"  Dresden,  1870. 
After  the  outbreak  of  the  American  civil  war,  he 
entered  the  Union  army  as  captain  of  engineers ; 
advanced  to  the  rank  of  brigadier,  March,  1865 ; 
was  afterwards  employed  in  the  United  States  con- 
sular service,  and  returned  to  his  native  land  in 
1871. 


72  THE    GERMAN  SOLDIER   IN  THE 

The  Germans  served  in  large  numbers  in  cavalry 
and  artillery  companies  of  volunteers  in  the  Mexican 
war,  notably  from  Texas  and  Missouri,  and  many  of 
them  gained  distinction  in  this  service.  Kentucky 
had  its  infantry  regiment  and  its  cavalry  company  of 
Germans  in  the  Mexican  war,  and  many  Germans  in 
its  loyal  regiments  during  the  Rebellion,  notably 
Companies  E  and  G  of  the  Fourth  Cavalry,  and 
Earth's  company  of  the  Twenty-eighth  Kentucky 
Volunteers.  Among  the  Germans  whose  services  in 
Texas  ought  not  to  be  forgotten  is  the  once  familiar 
name  of  William  Langenheim ;  and  of  his  associates, 
Gustavus  Schleicher  in  Texas  and  J.  A.  Wagener 
in  South  Carolina  served  in  the  Confederate  army. 
New  Orleans  and  Louisiana  had  among  their  leading 
Union  men  two  representative  Germans, — Christian 
Roselius  and  Michael  Hahn. 

General  Godfrey  Weitzel  was  born  in  Germany  in 
1835,  and  came  with  his  parents  to  this  country  as  a 
child,  was  appointed  a  cadet  at  West  Point  in  his 
seventeenth  year,  and  in  1855  graduated  as  a  lieu- 
tenant of  engineers.  He  served  with  Butler  and 
Banks  in  the  South,  and  led  a  division  under  Grant 
in  the  final  conquest  of  Richmond.  After  the 
war  he  was  constantly  employed  in  his  profession, 


WARS    OF   THE    UNITED   STATES. 


73 


until  his  untimely  death  in  Philadelphia,  March   19, 
1884. 

Colonel  Alexander  von  Schrader,  born  in  Ger- 
many, a  soldier  by  training,  was  lieutenant-colonel 
of  the  Seventy-fourth  Ohio,  and  became  a  major  in 
the  Thirty-ninth  Infantry  of  the  regular  army,  dying 
in  service  August  6,  1867.  He  had  been  reduced 
to  the  direst  poverty  before  the  war,  but  when  the 
occasion  came  his  distinguished  gallantry  and  effi- 
cient military  training  stood  him  in  good  stead. 

Henry  A.  Hambright,  retired  as  major  Nine- 
teenth United  States  Infantry,  brevet  colonel  United 
States  army,  brevet  brigadier-general  United  States 
volunteers,  was  born  in  Lancaster,  Pennsylvania, 
March  24,  1819.  His  father,  Frederick,  a  major- 
general  of  militia,  and  his  uncle,  George,  a  colonel, 
both  served  in  the  war  of  1812.  Colonel  Ham- 
bright  served  in  the  Mexican  war,  in  the  war  of  the 
Rebellion  as  an  officer  of  the  Second  Pennsylvania 
Volunteers,  in  the  First  Pennsylvania  (three  months) 
Volunteers,  and  as  colonel  of  the  Seventy-ninth 
Pennsylvania ;  while  still  in  the  three  months'  service 
he  was  commissioned  captain  of  the  Eleventh  United 
States  Infantry,  and  served  with  distinguished  gal- 
lantry through  the  war,  and  with  great  fidelity  until 

7 


74 


THE    GERMAN  SOLDIER   IN   THE 


he  was  retired  for  disability  incurred  in  the  line  of 
duty. 

A  study  of  the  register  of  officers  of  the  regular 
army  from  1779  shows  a  large  proportion  of  Ger- 
mans,— beginning  with  Kalb  and  Steuben,  in  the 
German  Battalion  of  Pennsylvania  and  Maryland, 
the  artillery  and  engineer  and  other  staff  corps  en- 
gaged in  the  wars  of  1812  and  1846.  During  the 
Rebellion  many  old  soldiers  of  German  birth  were  re- 
warded by  commissions,  and  not  a  few  distinguished 
German  volunteers  were  also  appointed  in  the  reg- 
ular army, — among  them  Blucher,  Von  Hermann, 
Luettwitz,  Michalowski,  Von  Schirach. 

There  were  two  million  six  hundred  and  ninety 
thousand  men  engaged  in  the  army  and  navy  during 
the  Rebellion,  beside  seventy-two  thousand  emer- 
gency men  called  out  for  short  periods  of  service. 
The  Count  of  Paris,  in  his  exhaustive  history  of  the 
war,  says  that  of  the  volunteers  who  enlisted  during 
the  first  year  only  one-tenth  were  foreigners ;  of  the 
remainder,  two-thirds  were  born  on  American  soil 
and  less  than  one-fourth  were  naturalized  Europeans. 
In  1864,  when  conscription  was  partially  resorted  to, 
eighty  per  cent,  were  natives.  This  army,  more  than 
two-thirds  natives  and  less  than  one-third  foreigners, 


WARS   OF  THE    UNITED   STATES. 


75 


was  raised  out  of  a  population  of  nineteen  millions. 
Far  more  than  one-third  of  the  effective  male  popu- 
lation were  of  European  birth,  yet  in  the  army  there 
was  less  than  that  proportion  in  the  ranks. 

The  Confederacy  at  the  time  of  the  battle  of  Bull 
Run  had  about  two  hundred  thousand  men  under 
arms.  When  the  North  called  for  five  hundred 
thousand  men,  the  South  called  for  four  hundred 
thousand.  In  1862  the  South  had  about  one  hun- 
dred and  eighty  thousand  men  in  the  field  ;  in  April 
of  that  year  the  Confederate  Congress  ordered,  not 
a  draft  as  in  the  past,  but  a  levy  en  masse  of  all 
white  males  between  eighteen  and  thirty-five,  resid- 
ing within  the  Confederacy,  for  three  years  or  the 
war,  divided  into  sixteen  classes.  Based  on  a  popu- 
lation of  five  million  whites,  this  should  have  pro- 
duced eight  hundred  thousand  men, — it  did  give 
between  four  and  five  hundred  thousand  effective 
men.  In  September,  1862,  the  limit  of  age  was  ex- 
tended to  forty-five,  and  the  other  limit  was  made 
to  include  all  who  had  completed  their  seventeenth 
year  since  April. 

In  the  Confederate  army  there  were  many  Ger- 
mans, and  much  of  the  literature  of  the  war  on  the 
part  of  the  South  is  made  up  of  the  records  of  those 


76  THE    GERMAN  SOLDIER  IN  THE 

who  served  on  that  side, — notable  among  them  Heros 
von  Borcke,  and  he  speaks  in  his  Munchausen-like 
book  of  finding  among  the  riflemen  an  old  Prus- 
sian soldier  from  Texas, — of  meeting  at  Lee's  head- 
quarters Captain  Scheibert,  of  the  Prussian  engineers, 
detailed  as  an  observer,  but  taking  an  active  part  as 
a  combatant, — and  the  author  of  a  book,  "  Sieben 
Monate  in  den  Rebellen  Staaten,"  published  in  Stet- 
tin in  1868,  characterized  by  its  strong  Southern 
tone.*  Then  there  is  the  book  of  another  German 

*In  McClellan's  admirable  life  of  General  J.  E.  B.  Stuart,  there  is 
a  paper  signed  by  that  distinguished  officer  under  date  of  June  17, 
1862,  in  which  he  says, — 

"  M.  Heros  von  Borcke,  a  Prussian  cavalry  officer,  has  shown  him- 
self a  thorough  soldier  and  a  splendid  officer.  I  hope  the  [War] 
Department  will  confer  as  high  a  commission  as  possible  on  this 
deserving  man,  who  has  cast  in  his  lot  with  us  in  this  trying  hour." 
(p.  69.) 

At  page  307,  we  find  that  on  the  igth  of  August,  1863,  Major 
Heros  von  Borcke,  an  officer  of  the  Prussian  army,  who  was  serving 
on  General  Stuart's  staff,  received  a  severe  wound,  which  disabled 
him  from  further  service,  (p.  307.) 

In  the  Southern  Bivouac  Magazine,  for  February,  1886,  published 
at  Louisville,  Kentucky,  it  is  mentioned  at  page  515  that  the  distin- 
guished Colonel  Von  Borcke,  Stuart's  chief-of-staff,  lately  revisited 
Fauquier  County,  Virginia,  staying  near  Upperville,  on  the  northern 
border;  his  once  robust  constitution  much  affected  by  the  ball  he 


WARS   OF  THE    UNITED   STATES. 


77 


soldier  of  fortune,  B.  Estvan,  whose  "  Kriegsbilder 
aus  Amerika"  appeared  in  Leipsic  in  1864,  as  it 
had  already  been  published  in  England  and  in  New 
York  in  English  in  1863.  Fritz  Annecke,  a  soldier 
in  the  West,  published  a  work  on  "  Der  zweite 
Freiheitskrieg,"  in  Frankfort  in  1861, — H.  Blanken- 
burg  another  coming  down  to  the  Presidential  elec- 
tion in  1868  (Leipsic,  1869);  August  Conrad  "  Schat- 

still  carries  in  his  right  lung,  received  when  he  was  wounded  in  1863 ; 
but  his  jovial,  impulsive,  warm-hearted  nature  has  not  forsaken  him. 
Colonel  von  Borcke  served  on  the  staff  of  Prince  Frederic  Charles, 
in  the  war  of  1866,  but  his  old  wounds  forced  him  to  retire. 

Captain  Scheibert's  interest  in  the  Southern  cause  did  not  end  with 
the  war;  on  returning  to  Germany,  where  he  became  major  in  the 
Prussian  Engineers,  he  corresponded  with  the  editor  of  the  Southern 
Historical  Society's  Papers.  In  vol.  v.,  p.  90,  his  letter  on  Gettys- 
burg, dated  Stuttgart,  November  21,  1879,  is  printed,  and  in  vol.  iv., 
p.  88,  there  is  a  notice  by  Colonel  Venables,  C.S.A.,  of  a  transla- 
tion of  Scheibert's  book  into  French,  by  Captain  Bonnecque,  of 
the  French  Engineers.  In  1883,  Major  Scheibert  published  a  Ger- 
man translation  of  Allan's  "  History  of  the  Valley  Campaign;"  and  in 
a  letter  of  October  13,  1881,  dated  at  Hirshberg,  Silesia,  Prussia,  he 
says  he  has  translated  and  printed  in  German,  Early's  "  Gettysburg," 
Stuart's  and  Lee's  "  Reports,"  Hubbard's  "  Chancellorsville,"  Patton's 
"Jackson,"  McClellan's  "Jeb  Stuart,"  Stuart's  "Gettysburg,"  and 
biographies  of  Lee,  Jackson,  Stuart,  and  Mosby.  His  "  Burgerkrieg 
in  den  Vereinigten  Staaten"  has  been  translated  into  French  and 
Spanish. 

7* 


78  THE    GERMAN  SOLDIER  IN  THE 

ten  und  Lichtbilder  aus  dem  amerikanischen  Leben 
wahrend  des  Secessionskrieges"  (Hannover,  1879); 
Riistow,  a  recognized  authority  on  war,  a  history 
of  the  war,  from  a  purely  military  point  of  view. 
Mangold  wrote  "  Der  Feldzug  in  Neu  Virginien  in 
August,  1862"  (Hannover,  1881),  which  has  received 
high  praise, — Constantin  Sander,  a  history  of  the 
war,  first  down  to  1862,  and  then  a  later  and  more 
complete  volume,  the  former  published  in  Frankfort  in 
1863,  the  second  in  1865.  "Von  Achten  der  Letzte" 
is  a  German  novel  on  the  Southern  side  published 
in  Wiesbaden  in  1871.  Much  that  is  of  interest 
on  the  subject  is  to  be  found  in  the  volume,  "  In 
der  neuen  Heimath,  Geschichtliche  Mittheilungen 
iiber  die  Deutschen  Einwanderer  in  alien  Theilen 
der  Union,  herausgegeben  von  Anton  Eickhoff." 
2te  Ausgabe,  N.  Y.,  Steiger,  1885,  8vo,  pp.  398. 

Of  translations  and  newspaper  magazine  articles 
in  German,  the  number  is  almost  endless.  Many 
Southern  citizens  living  abroad  tried  to  reach  the 
German  public  by  arguments  and  appeals,  but  the 
fact  remains  that  the  great  mass  of  the  German 
people  were  from  first  to  last  unshaken  in  their 
faith  in  the  success  of  the  Union,  and  they  profited 
largely  by  the  faith  which  led  them  to  make  in- 


WARS   OF  THE    UNITED   STATES. 


79 


vestments  in  American  bonds  and  securities  at  a 
time  of  general  doubt. 

In  North  Carolina  there  was  a  goodly  number  of 
Germans  and  of  the  descendants  of  the  early  Ger- 
man settlers  in  the  Confederate  service.  In  Wil- 
mington, North  Carolina,  at  the  commencement  of 
the  war,  a  company  was  raised  under  the  name  of 
the  German  Volunteers,  afterwards  Company  A, 
Eighteenth  Regiment  North  Carolina  troops.  The 
officers  were,  C.  Cornehlsen,  Captain ;  H.  Vollers, 
First  Lieutenant;  G.  H.  W.  Runge,  Second  Lieu- 
tenant ;  E.  Schulken,  Third  Lieutenant.  There  were 
seventy-five  men  rank  and  file,  all  Germans,  in  this 
organization,  while  in  other  branches  of  the  service, 
artillery  and  cavalry,  as  well  as  in  the  Confederate 
States  navy,  there  were  Germans, — so  that  North 
Carolina  had  a  fair  share  of  them  in  its  volunteers. 

South  Carolina  was  not  without  its  German  sol- 
diers. Indeed,  as  early  as  1670,  the  first  German 
that  set  foot  in  Carolina,  John  Lederer,  made  a  tour 
of  exploration  under  the  direction  of  Governor  Wil- 
liam Berkeley,  of  Virginia ;  he  was  a  man  of  learn- 
ing; his  journal  was  written  in  Latin,  and  the  trans- 
lator, Sir  William  Talbot,  Governor  of  Maryland, 
speaks  highly  of  his  literary  attainments.  The  ac- 


gO  THE    GERMAN  SOLDIER  IN  THE 

count  of  this  journey  was  published  and  circulated, 
and  doubtless  had  its  effect  in  the  settling  of  Caro- 
lina, for  it  is  certain  that  in  1680  German  immigration 
had  fairly  set  in.  In  1764  six  hundred  Palatines 
arrived  in  South  Carolina.  In  1766  the  German 
Friendly  Society  was  founded  in  Charleston,  and  as 
early  as  1686  the  German  Lutherans  were  included 
among  the  leading  elements  of  the  population.  Be- 
tween 1730  and  1750  a  great  addition  was  made 
from  Switzerland  and  Germany,  and  the  dreadful 
war  that  scourged  the  peaceful  inhabitants  for  so 
many  years  drove  thousands  to  America,  and  of 
these  many  came  to  Carolina.  Of  course  in  the 
Confederacy,  and  especially  in  its  army  from  South 
Carolina  and  in  the  defence  of  Charleston,  there  were 
many  Germans ;  thus  in  the  force  that  took  posses- 
sion of  Fort  Moultrie  in  April,  1861,  there  was  the 
German  Artillery,  Captain  C.  Nohrden ;  and  among 
the  troops  furnished  by  the  city  of  Charleston  to  the 
Southern  army,  in  the  roster  printed  in  Courtenay's 
History  of  Charleston,  are  the  following  German  or- 
ganizations, viz. : 

Fourth  Brigade  South  Carolina  Militia:  Ger- 
man Riflemen,  Captain  J.  Small;  Palmetto  Rifle- 
men, Captain  A.  Melchers. 


WARS   OF   THE    UNITED   STATES.  gl 

Seventeenth  Infantry,  German  Fusileers,  Captain 
S.  Lord,  Jr. 

First  Regiment  of  Artillery,  Major  John  A.  Wag- 
ener  (a  veteran  of  the  war  with  Mexico,  a  member  of 
Company  F,  the  Charleston  company  of  the  South 
Carolina  Regiment). 

German  Artillery,  Company  A,  Captain  C.  Nohr- 
den ;  German  Artillery,  Company  B,  Captain  H. 
Harms. 

Cavalry,  German  Hussars,  Captain  Theodore 
Cordes. 

Marion  Rifles,  a  volunteer  corps  of  the  fire  depart- 
ment, Captain  C.  B.  Sigwald. 

At  the  commencement  of  the  war  of  the  Rebel- 
lion, the  Germans  of  Charleston,  South  Carolina, 
took  an  active  share  in  the  war,  for  they  considered 
that  their  homes  were  assailed  by  the  North,  and  they 
volunteered  freely  for  the  war,  furnishing  about  four 
hundred  men.  The  German  Artillery,  Companies 
A  and  B,  were  militia  organizations,  under  command 
of  Major  John  A.  Wagener.  These  two  companies 
served  from  the  outset  until  the  war  ended.  The 
two  companies  were  under  the  respective  command 
of  Captains  A.  Nohrden  and  H.  Harms.  After 
the  battle  of  Hilton  Head,  November  7,  1861,  Major 


82  THE    GERMAN  SOLDIER   IN  THE 

Wagener  took  command  of  the  Home  Guards  in 
Charleston,  and  the  commander  of  Company  A  was 
Captain  D.  Werner ;  of  Company  B,  Captain  Franz 
Melchers,  who  served  during  the  rest  of  the  war. 
The  command  was  reorganized  after  the  war  as  one 
company,  under  Captain  F.  W.  Wagener,  who  had 
served  during  the  war  after  Captain  Werner's  resig- 
nation. The  German  Hussars,  also  a  militia  com- 
pany, volunteered  for  the  war  under  Captain  Theo- 
dore Cordes;  on  his  death,  Captain  Fremder  took 
command,  and  after  his  death,  Captain  Hanke  Wohl- 
ken  served  during  the  war.  The  German  Volunteers 
were  a  company  of  young  men  under  Captain  W.  K. 
Bachman ;  they  volunteered  for  and  served  through- 
out the  war.  All  of  them  declared  their  allegiance  to 
the  home  they  had  chosen  voluntarily  and  shared  the 
fate  of  the  people  who  had  received  them  kindly, 
while  they  hardly  bothered  their  heads  about  the 
cause  of  the  war.  They  were  merchants,  clerks, 
artisans,  etc.,  and  many  of  them  have  passed  away 
during  or  since  the  war.  Captain  F.  Melchers  still 
survives, — for  forty  years  a  resident  of  Charleston, 
and  for  thirty-three  years  publisher  of  the  Deutsche 
Zeitung,  except  during  the  four  years  of  the  war, 
when  he  served  as  lieutenant  and  as  captain,  and  as 


WARS   OF  THE    UNITED   STATES.  83 

lieutenant-colonel  on  the  staff  of  General  Wade 
Hampton.  Captain  F.  W.  Wagener  and  Captain 
Hanke  Wohlken  are  merchants,  Captain  W.  R. 
Bachman  a  lawyer,  and  Professor  *C.  H.  Bergmann, 
of  the  German  School,  was  a  volunteer  and  orderly 
sergeant  in  Bachman's  company  during  the  war. 
The  survivors  are  about  to  erect  a  monument  to 
their  fallen  comrades,  and  the  Germans  of  Charleston 
have  contributed  a  handsome  sum  for  the  purpose. 

The  Charleston  companies  in  the  armies  of  the 
Confederate  States  for  the  war  (1861-65)  included 
in  Courtenay's  roster : 

Three  companies  of  German  artillery. 

Light  Battery  B,*  Hampton  Legion,  Captain  W. 
K.  Bachman. 

Light  Battery  A,  Captain  F.  W.  Wagener. 

Light  Battery  B,  Captain  F.  Melchers. 

Marion  Rifles,  Company  A,  Twenty-fourth  Regi- 
ment South  Carolina  Volunteers,  Captain  C.  B. 
Sigwald. 


*  This  company,  called  the  German  Volunteers,  was  raised  by 
the  German  citizens  of  Charleston,  mustered  into  service  for  the 
war  as  an  infantry  company,  and  subsequently  transferred  to  the 
light  artillery. 


84 


THE    GERMAN  SOLDIER  IN  THE 


German  Hussars,  Troop  G,  Third  Regiment 
South  Carolina  Cavalry,  Captain  Theodore  Cordes. 

In  Texas  many  Germans  served  in  the  Confed- 
erate army.  In  Walker's  Texas  Division,  the  Third 
Texas  Volunteer  Infantry  Regiment  had  Company 
B,  Captain  Biesenbuch,  Lieutenants  Koening  and 
Uhl ;  Company  F,  Captain  Rosenheimer,  Lieuten- 
ants Ztuni  and  Hafner;  Company  G,  Captain  Sher- 
hagen ;  Company  K,  Captain  Bosi,  Lieutenants  Sara- 
sin  and  Schleuning.  In  the  Sixteenth  Texas,  Colonel 
Flournoy,  Company  E,  Captain  G.  T.  Marold,  Lieu- 
tenants Klaedon,  Hanke,  and  Groff;  Company  H, 
of  the  Seventeenth,  Captain  Sabath,  Lieutenant  Koll- 
mauer,  were  all  Germans. 

In  the  First  Virginia  Infantry,  Company  K  had 
Lieutenants  C.  Bauman,  B.  Bergmeier,  and  A.  Bitzel 
(see  its  history  by  Charles  Loehr). 

The  Louisiana  militia  organizations  at  the  outset 
of  the  Rebellion  included  the  New  Orleans  Jagers, 
Captain  Peters,  Lieutenants  Fassbinder  and  Huth; 
the  Sharpshooters,  Captain  Christern ;  the  Fusileers, 
Captain  Sievers,  Lieutenants  Gerdes  and  Walbrack ; 
the  La  Fayette  Guards,  Captain  Koenig,  Lieutenants 
Hollenback  and  Fridebach ;  the  Jefferson  Guards, 
Captain  Wollrath,  Lieutenant  Lehman ;  Reichard's 


WARS   OF  THE    UNITED  STATES.  85 

Battalion  ;  Turner  Guards,  Captain  Bahncke,  Lieu- 
tenants Von  Armlinsen,  Eicholz,  Schneider;  Steuben 
Guards,  Captain  Burger,  Lieutenants  Kehrwald, 
Rosenbaum,  Hausner  ;  Reichard  Rifles,  Captain 
Reitmeyer,  Lieutenants  Weise,  De  Petz,  Muller; 
Louisiana  Volunteers,  Captain  Ruhl,  Lieutenants 
Von  Zincken,  Barrel ;  Black  Jagers,  Captain  Roben- 
horst  ;  Florence  Guards,  Captain  Brummenstadt, 
Lieutenants  Lachenmeyer,  Wassernagel,  Warburg. 
Bachman's  was  one  of  the  batteries  of  the  Wash- 
ington Artillery  of  New  Orleans,  and  the  Tenth 
Louisiana  was  commanded  by  Colonel  Waggaman. 

In  Georgia,  among  the  troops  engaged  in  defence 
of  Fort  Pulaski  were  the  German  Volunteers,  Cap- 
tain John  H.  Stegin,  one  of  the  companies  of  the 
First  Volunteer  Regiment  of  Georgia. 

The  register  of  the  Confederate  States  army  contains 
the  following  German  names :  Colonels  J.  T.  Holtz- 
claw,  Eighteenth  Alabama,  Brigadier-General  ;  A.  H. 
Helvenstein,  Sixteenth  Alabama ;  E.  Waggaman, 
Tenth  Louisiana ;  L.  C.  Gause,  Thirty-second  Ar- 
kansas; Major  W.  O.  Yager,  Third  Texas  Cavalry; 
Captain  R.  M.  Cans,  Fourth  Texas  Cavalry ;  Colonel 
J.  N.  Adenbousch,  Second  Virginia  Infantry ;  Colonel 
J.  N.  Waul,  Tenth  Texas,  Brigadier-General ;  Captain 


86  THE    GERMAN  SOLDIER  IN  THE 

F.  C.  Schulz,  Chestnut  Artillery,  South  Carolina ; 
Captain  C.  R.  Hanleiter,  Jr.,  Thompson's  Artillery, 
Georgia;  J.  A.  Englehard,  Major  and  Assistant  Ad- 
jutant-General, Fender's  Light  Division,  Third  Corps; 
R.  W.  Memminger,  Assistant  Adjutant-General  and 
Chief  of  Staff,  .Department  of  Mississippi  and  East 
Louisiana. 

Gustav  Schleicher  was  the  first  German  in  Con- 
gress, who  there  won  reputation  as  a  representative 
of  the  Germans  of  the  United  States.  Born  in 
Darmstadt  in  1823,  he  studied  at  Giessen,  became 
a  successful  civil  engineer,  emigrated  to  Texas  in 
1847,  established  himself  finally  in  San  Antonio, 
served,  successively,  in  both  branches  of  the  Texas 
Legislature,  was  lieutenant-colonel  and  colonel  of 
the  Texas  Rangers  in  the  Confederate  army,  and 
was  elected  to  the  United  States  Congress  in  1874 
as  a  German  Democrat.  He  showed  marked  ability, 
thorough  training,  and  conscientious  study.  Re- 
elected  twice  to  Congress,  his  premature  death  in 
1879  cut  short  a  career  which  gave  promise  of  honor 
to  himself  and  usefulness  to  his  adopted  country. 

The  statistics  of  nativity  of  the  population  of  the 
States  at  the  time  of  the  Rebellion  are  not  to  be 
absolutely  ascertained.  I  find  in  "  Freiheit  u.  Skla- 


WARS   OF  THE    UNITED   STATES.  g/ 

verei  unter  dem  Sternenbanner,  oder  Land  u.  Leute 
in  Amerika,"  by  Theodore  Griesinger,  Stuttgart, 
1862,  the  statement  that  in  Pennsylvania  there  were 
then  over  a  million  of  German  birth  and  descent; 
in  New  York,  800,000;  in  Ohio,  600,000;  in  New 
Jersey,  125,000;  in  New  England/  30,000;  while 
there  were  in  the  Southern  States,  in  Virginia, 
250,000;  in  Maryland,  125,000;  in  Missouri,  over 
100,000;  in  Louisiana,  50,000;  in  Texas,  30,000;  in 
Tennessee,  50,000 ;  in  North  Carolina  and  Kentucky, 
70,000;  in  Delaware,  25,000;  in  South  Carolina, 
20,000;  in  the  cotton  States, — Georgia,  Alabama, 
Mississippi,  and  Arkansas,  10,000;  in  Florida,  5000. 
There  is  no  estimate  of  the  number  in  the  North- 
west, that  vast  region  from  which  came  the  volun- 
teers of  Illinois,  Indiana,  Michigan,  Wisconsin,  and 
Iowa.  Of  course  the  Germans  of  Missouri  sup- 
plied large  numbers  of  soldiers,  some  of  them  of 
great  distinction,  and  many  Germans  from  other 
States  went  to  Missouri,  as  that  was  almost  the 
first  seat  of  active  operations,  and  Fremont  and 
Sigel  and  Asboth  attracted  Germans  from  all  quar- 
ters, just  as  in  the  East,  German  regiments  were 
asking  to  join  Blenker's  brigade  until  it  became 
a  division,  and  others  were  ready  to  swell  the  di- 


88  THE    GERMAN  SOLDIER  IN  THE 

vision  to  a  corps.  Indeed,  it  was  from  Blenker's 
demand  to  lead  it  that  McClellan  was  obliged  to 
administer  a  reproof  which  led  finally  to  his  resig- 
nation from  active  service. 

The  only  attempt  at  an  official  analysis  of  the 
nativity  of  the  soldiers  of  the  Union  army  is  that 
found  in  a  volume  of  medical  statistics  published 
in  a  final  report  of  the  Provost-Marshal  General, 
General  James  B.  Fry,  U.S.A.,  in  which  it  is  stated 
that  out  of  343,764  drafted  men  there  were  from 
Wurtemberg,  I  ;  Austria,  67 ;  Prussia,  754 ;  Bavaria, 
35;  Saxony,  15;  Germany,  35,935;  Switzerland, 
1158;  total,  37,965;  but  in  another  place  it  is  said 
that  there  were  of  German  birth  54,944  soldiers 
drafted  in  the  service.  In  the  same  report  it  is  said 
that  during  the  Mexican  war  thirty  per  cent,  of  the 
American  army  were  of  foreign  birth,  and  that  this 
proportion  held  good  of  the  volunteers  during  the 
Rebellion,  but  that  in  times  of  peace  the  propor- 
tions were  reversed,  seventy  per  cent,  of  the  recruits 
being  of  foreign  birth.  It  is  also  stated  that  twenty- 
four  nationalities  were  represented  in  the  United 
States  army,  and  that  out  of  a  total  of  a  million 
two  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  men  actually  in  the 
war,  there  were  seventy-five  thousand  Germans. 


WARS   OF  THE    UNITED   STATES. 


89 


This  is  certainly  very  far  short  of  the  actual  number, 
and  is  by  no  means  borne  out  as  accurate  even  by 
the  estimates  made  by  the  very  competent  authority 
of  the  statistician  employed  by  the  United  States 
Sanitary  Commission,  Dr.  B.  A.  Gould,  whose  tables 
are  based  upon  very  careful  mathematical  data,  and 
come  as  near  the  truth  as  can  be  expected  in  the 
absence  of  absolute  returns. 

The  United  States  Sanitary  Commission,  in  addi- 
tion to  its  other  good  work,  has  published  "  Investi- 
gations in  the  Statistics  of  American  Soldiers,"  by 
B.  A.  Gould  (New  York,  1869),  of  which  one  chapter 
is  devoted  to  the  nativity  of  the  United  States  Volun- 
teers (chap,  ii.,  pp.  15-26).  It  gives  a  suggestive  list 
of  the  arrivals  of  aliens  in  the  United  States,  as  fol- 
lows : 

1860 153,640 

1861 112,705 

1862 114,475 

1863 199,811 

1864 221,535 

Thirty  in  each  hundred  alien  passengers  before 
1 86 1,  and  thirty-three  in  each  hundred  during  the 

war,  were  males  of  military  age,  and  the  total  for 

8* 


QO  '  THE    GERMAN  SOLDIER   IN  THE 

the  years  of  the  war  may  be  placed  at  two  hundred 
and  twenty-nine  thousand  five  hundred  and  thirty- 
two. 

It  was  not  until  the  war  had  been  waged  for  some 
time  that  the  place  of  birth  was  systematically  re- 
quired on  the  enlistment  rolls ;  the  actual  records 
are  therefore  very  imperfect,  and  as  many  men  en- 
listed at  different  times  for  different  periods, — in  one 
instance  five  times, — even  regimental  statistics  are 
misleading.  It  was  not  until  the  organization  of 
the  provost-marshal-general's  office  that  nativity 
was  made  an  essential  element  of  the  history  of 
each  soldier.  Out  of  the  two  and  a  half  million  of 
men  in  the  army,  the  nativities  of  about  one  million 
two  hundred  thousand  have  been  collected  for  Dr. 
Gould's  work  from  the  records  at  the  national  and 
State  capitals,  of  about  two  hundred  and  ninety-three 
thousand  from  regimental  officers.  In  Missouri  it 
was  estimated  that  there  were  ten  thousand  re-enlist- 
ments among  the  German  population ;  but  making 
due  allowance  for  these,  the  Sanitary  Commission 
gives  the  following  table  of  Germans,  volunteers  in 
the  different  regiments  from  the  States,  and  in  the 
parallel  column  that  of  the  proportion  the  Germans 
would  have  borne  to  the  native  and  other  nationalities 


WARS  OF  THE    UNITED   STATES.  '  gi 

in  the  populations  of  each  State ;  and  I  have  added 
the  German  population  from  the  census  of  1860  in 
another  column : 

-„  Number  of  Proportion  to  Total  German 

German  Soldiers,     whole  Population.      cJJjKrffio 


Maine  .... 

244 

34 

2,601 

New  Hampshire  . 

952 

35 

412 

Vermont 

86 

19 

219 

Massachusetts 

1,876 

860 

9,961 

Rhode  Island  and  Con- 
necticut    . 

2,919 

rR.   I. 
I  Conn. 

845 
8,525 

New  York    . 

36,680 

22,591 

256,252 

New  Jersey  . 

7,387 

3,097 

33,772 

Pennsylvania 

17,208 

13,173 

138,244 

Delaware 

621 

139 

1,263 

Maryland 

3,107 

2,373 

43,884 

District  of  Columbia     . 

746 

643 

3,254 

West  Virginia 

869 

194  (Va.) 

10,512 

Kentucky 

1,943 

1,276 

27,227 

Ohio     .... 

20,102 

18,984 

168,210 

Indiana 

7,190 

7,793 

66,705 

Illinois 

18,140 

16,647 

130,804 

Michigan 

3,534 

3,793 

38,787 

Wisconsin     . 

15,709 

12,729 

123,879 

Minnesota    . 

2,715 

2,172 

18,400 

Iowa    .... 

2,850 

3,239 

38,555 

Missouri 

30,899 

7,105 

88,487 

Kansas 

1,090 

692 

4,318 

A  grand  total  of     .  187,858  128,102  1,118,402 


p2  THE    GERMAN  SOLDIER  IN  THE 

And  as  against  this  there  were 

Proportion         Volunteers, 
to  Population. 

British  Americans        .         .         .         .  22,695  53>532 

English 38,250  45,5o8 

Irish 139,052  144,221 

Other  foreigners          ....  39,455  48,410 

Foreigners  not  otherwise  designated   .  278  26,445 

Adding  to  these  native  Americans  1,523,267, 
makes  a  total  of  2,018,200  soldiers  whose  nativity 
is  thus  established,  out  of  the  2,500,000  in  the 
Union  army. 

Part  of  the  unwritten  history  of  the  war  for  the 
Union  is  the  result  of  the  firm  stand  the  Germans 
took  in  defence  of  their  new  Fatherland.  In  the 
East,  and  still  more  in  the  West,  before  the  Rebellion 
the  German  element  was  hardly  appreciated  by  the 
mass  of  the  people.  With  the  outbreak  of  the  war  it 
asserted  itself,  and  won  a  place  in  the  consideration 
of  their  fellow-citizens  that  has  been  shown  by  their 
recognition  in  its  government,  and,  to  a  still  greater 
degree,  in  its  social  development.  In  the  Southwest, 
notably,  the  Southern  element  was  antagonistic  to 
the  Germans, — their  industry,  their  frugality,  their 
sobriety,  their  simple  tastes,  their  love  of  family, 


WARS   OF  THE    UNITED   STATES. 


93 


their  pride  in  their  homes,  were  all  elements  of  a  civ- 
ilization unknown  in  that  part  of  the  country.  When 
the  Germans  answered  the  appeal  to  support  and 
defend  the  Union,  their  uprising  was  a  surprise. 
Politicians  looked  unkindly  on  their  military  organ- 
izations, and  were  indisposed  to-  give  them  a  place  in 
the  army.  The  steadiness  of  Blenker's  division  at 
Bull  Run  gave  his  German  regiments  a  consideration 
which  stood  them  in  good  stead  later  on,  when  dis- 
asters befell  them  at  Chancellorsville  and  at  Gettys- 
burg. In  the  West,  Sigel  organized  the  German 
regiments  and  helped  to  save  Missouri  to  the  Union. 
The  Germans  who  had  been  soldiers  at  home,  but 
were  employed  peacefully  throughout  the  country,  at 
the  first  appeal  to  arms  hurried  to  join  their  fellow- 
countrymen,  and  many  others  joined  them  who  had 
recently  come  over  here  to  seek  their  fortunes,  and 
not  a  few  whose  trade  was  war  helped  to  swell  the 
strength  of  the  German  regiments.  Asboth  organ- 
ized a  cavalry  brigade,  which  did  good  service  to  the 
end.  The  Fourth  (German)  Missouri  Cavalry  was 
one  of  his  regiments,  and  although  its  colonel  and 
its  adjutant  were  Americans,  most  of  its  officers  and 
all  of  its  rank  and  file  were  Germans,  old  soldiers, 
who  soon  showed  their  capacity  to  adapt  the  lessons 


94 


THE    GERMAN  SOLDIER   IN  THE 


of  their  old  military  experience  to  the  new  problems 
of  the  war  in  this  country. 

The  scattered  settlements  of  Germans  throughout 
Missouri  made  the  strength  of  the  Union  men  of  that 
State  and  kept  it  in  its  place.  Encouraged  in  turn 
by  the  success  of  their  countrymen,  large  numbers 
of  new  settlers  followed  their  example,  among  them 
many  who  had  seen  the  future  wealth  of  the  country 
even  in  a  time  of  war,  and  that  the  desolating  border 
war  which  carries  so  much  misery  in  its  course. 
Now  throughout  Western  Missouri  there  are  thriving 
villages  and  prosperous  towns,  connected  by  a  net- 
work of  well-tilled  farms,  where  German  is  the  uni- 
versal element.  To  them  the  success  of  the  Union 
cause  was  the  guarantee  of  their  future  prosperity, 
and  from  their  support  it  derived  much  of  its  best 
strength. 

Colonel  Waring's  attractive  little  book,  "Whip  and 
Spur"  (Boston,  1875),  gives  an  admirable  sketch  of  the 
life  in  the  Fourth  Missouri  Cavalry.  Full  of  grace, 
charming  in  tone  and  spirit,  told  with  the  true  feeling 
of  a  real  soldier,  it  shows  with  much  more  vivid  truth 
than  most  professed  histories  the  real  inner  life  of  a 
cavalry  regiment  largely  made  up  of  old  German 
soldiers.  From  its  lieutenant-colonel,  Von  Helmrich, 


WARS   OF   THE    UNITED   STATES. 


95 


for  twenty-eight  years  a  cavalry  soldier  in  Germany, 
down  to  the  Swiss  trumpeter,  all  were  imbued  with 
that  military  spirit  which  makes  the  typical  German 
soldier.  Colonel  Waring's  story  is  one  of  rough 
campaigns,  of  hurrying  expeditions,  of  hair-breadth 
'scapes,  of  a  soldier's  life  in  a  border  warfare,  and  it 
will  preserve  the  fame  of  the  Fourth  Missouri  Cav- 
alry when  the  dull  records  of  many  other  regiments 
have  been  forgotten.  It  is  just  such  a  book  as  will 
serve  to  keep  alive  the  best  memories  of  the  German 
cavalrymen  in  the  war  for  the  Union  in  the  West. 

The  German  soldier  of  the  West  and  Northwest  at 
once  took  his  right  place  in  the  army,  and  won  for 
himself  and  his  countrymen  the  respect  and  the  affec- 
tion and  the  confidence  of  his  native-born  fellow-citi- 
zens. What  was  before  a  scanty  permission  has  now 
become  a  matter  of  right,  and  the  German,  as  a  factor 
in  both  the  political  and  social  progress  of  the  coun- 
try, owes  his  place  to  what  was  done  and  won  for  it 
in  the  war  of  the  Rebellion.  Many  Germans  no 
doubt  came  over  here  as  a  sort  of  freebooters,  at- 
tracted by  the  high  pay  and  the  rapid  promotion, 
and  all  the  advantages  that  a  volunteer  army  enjoyed 
over  the  great  standing  army  of  their  native  country. 
Many  of  them  settled  here,  when  the  war  was  over, 


96 


THE    GERMAN  SOLDIER   IN   THE 


and  became  good  and  useful  citizens,  ready  to  do 
their  share  in  making  their  new  homes  prosperous 
and  happy.  Thus,  whatever  their  sacrifices, — and  they 
were  great  in  life  and  health, — their  reward  has  been 
proportionately  great,  and  the  Germans  throughout 
the  civilized  world  owe  much  of  their  present  po- 
sition, of  the  accepted  greatness  of  the  Empire,  to  the 
devotion,  freely  offered,  of  their  services  to  the  United 
States  in  its  hour  of  trial,  and  to  the  example  they 
then  gave  of  fidelity  to  their  political  principles. 

The  story  of  the  German  soldier  in  the  Rebellion 
is  one  of  the  characteristic  features  of  that  varying 
struggle.  In  the  outset  in  the  East  the  enthusiasm 
of  the  German  population  in  their  support  of  the 
Union  was  heartily  welcome.  In  Missouri,  under 
Sigel,  it  was  their  uprising  that  saved  that  State  to 
the  Union,  and  from  the  Germans  of  Missouri  and 
the  Northwest  there  came  soldiers  who  won  the  day 
against  the  disloyal  government  of  the  State.  Fre- 
mont rallied  around  him  bodies  of  German  troops  of 
a  strange  sort  at  first,  but  that  later  on  in  the  war 
became  useful  soldiers.  In  New  York,  Blenker 
raised  a  regiment  which  soon  swelled  to  a  brigade, 
and  then  to  a  division,  and  might  have  become 
an  army  corps.  Their  steadiness  in  protecting  the 


WARS   OF   THE    UNITED   STATES. 


97 


retreat  at  the  first  Bull  Run  won  for  them  general 
applause.  Their  camp  in  front  of  Washington,  during 
the  preparation  that  McClellan  gave  his  raw  troops, 
was  a  scene  of  military  displays  in  the  fashion  of 
Germany,  little  known  or  appreciated  by  our  work- 
a-day  army,  but  largely  admired  by  spectators  from 
far  and  near. 

The  successive  ill  fortune  of  the  German  troops 
under  Sigel  in  the  valley  of  Virginia,  and  under 
Howard  at  Chancellorsville  and  Gettysburg,  was  fully 
atoned  for  by  their  share  in  the  operations  under 
Sherman.  From  being  overpraised  at  the  outset 
they  were  afterwards  unjustly  overblamed,  and  the 
truth  undoubtedly  rested  between  the  two  extremes. 
There  were  incompetent  officers  and  inefficient 
soldiers  in  their  number  in  the  outset,  but  these 
were  gradually  weeded  out,  and  in  the  end  it  can 
fairly  be  said  that  the  German  soldiers  in  the  Rebel- 
lion contributed  largely  to  the  success  that  finally 
crowned  the  war.  To  give  a  detailed  account  of  so 
large  a  number,  scattered  over  such  an  extent  of 
country,  would  be  impossible,  but  a  few  shining  ex- 
amples may  serve  the  purpose. 

In  a  pamphlet  issued  by  the  War  Department  in 
1885,  there  is  given  the  local  designation  of  volun- 

9 


9g  THE    GERMAN  SOLDIER  IN   THE 

teer  organizations  in  the  United  States  army  dur- 
ing the  war  of  the  Rebellion,  1860-65,  which  is  of 
interest,  as  showing  in  part  the  nationality  of 
troops. 

In  New  York: 

Dickel's  Mounted  Rifles,  Fourth  New  York 
Cavalry. 

Blenker's  Battery,  Second  Battery  Light  Artillery, 
New  York. 

Steuben  Regiment,  Seventh  New  York  Infantry. 

First  German  Rifles,  Eighth  New  York   Infantry. 

United  Turner  Rifles,  Twentieth  New  York  In- 
fantry. 

First  Astor  Regiment,  Twenty-ninth  New  York 
Infantry. 

Fifth  German  Rifles,  Forty-fifth  New  York  In- 
fantry. 

Fremont  Regiment,  Forty-sixth  New  York  In- 
fantry. 

Sigel  Rifles,  or  German  Rangers,  Fifty-second 
New  York  Infantry. 

Barney  Rifles,  or  Schwartze  Yager  Regiment, 
Fifty-fourth  New  York  Infantry. 

Steuben  Rangers,  Eighty-sixth  New  York  Infantry. 


WARS   OF  THE    UNITED   STATES.  ^ 

In  Pennsylvania : 

First  German  Regiment,  Seventy-fourth  Pennsyl- 
vania Infantry. 

Second  German  Regiment,  Seventy-fifth  Pennsyl- 
vania Infantry. 

In  Ohio: 

First  German  Regiment,  Twenty-eighth  Ohio  In- 
fantry. 

Second  German  Regiment,  Thirty-seventh  Ohio 
Infantry,  Colonel  Siber. 

Third  German  Regiment,  Sixty-seventh  Ohio  In- 
fantry, Colonel  Burstenbinder. 

In  Indiana: 

First  German  Regiment,  Thirty-second  Indiana, 
commanded,  successively,  by  Willich,  Von  Trebra, 
and  Erdelmeyer. 

In  Illinois: 

Hecker's  Yager  Regiment,  Twenty-fourth  Illinois. 

In  Wisconsin: 

First  German   Regiment,  Ninth  Wisconsin. 
Second    German     Regiment,    Twenty-sixth    Wis- 
consin. 


THE    GERMAN  SOLDIER  IN  THE 

Bates's  History  of  the  Pennsylvania  Regiments, 
etc.,  in  the  Rebellion,  is  a  huge  work  of  five  enor- 
mous volumes,  and  from  its  endless  pages  there  is 
much  material  to  be  gathered  bearing  on  the  Ger- 
man element  in  the  war.  Pennsylvania  naturally 
claims  for  its  citizens  of  German  descent,  including 
those  whose  ancestors  were  among  the  early  settlers, 
a  place  in  any  tribute  to  the  German  soldiers. 
Among  the  first  five  companies  organized  in  Penn- 
sylvania at  the  very  outset,  there  were  many  Penn- 
sylvania Germans ;  and  of  the  twenty-five  regiments 
raised  for  the  three  months'  service,  there  were  the 
Fourth,  with  Hartranft  as  its  colonel,  from  Norris- 
town  and  Pottstown ;  the  Eighth,  from  Lehigh  and 
Northampton ;  the  Ninth,  from  Chester  and  Dela- 
ware, with  Pennypacker ;  the  Tenth,  from  Lancaster ; 
the  Eleventh,  from  Northumberland ;  the  Fourteenth, 
from  Berks;  the  Fifteenth,  from  Luzerne;  the  Six- 
teenth, from  York  and  Schuylkill ;  the  Eighteenth, 
in  Philadelphia,  under  Wilhelm ;  the  Twenty-first, 
under  Ballier,  largely  made  up  of  Germans. 

Of  the  three-year  regiments,  those  who  bore  the 
brunt  of  the  war,  there  was  the  Twenty-seventh, 
which  gained  credit  from  and  for  Bushbeck ;  while  of 
the  fifteen  regiments  of  the  Pennsylvania  Reserves, 


WARS   OF  THE    UNITED   STATES.  IOi 

the  largest  organized  force,  indeed  the  only  division 
sent  by  one  State  to  the  field,  many  of  its  members 
were  Germans  by  birth  or  descent, — and  so,  too,  of 
the  Forty-eighth,  from  Schuylkill ;  the  Fiftieth,  from 
Berks;  the  Fifty-first,  under  Hartranft,  from  Mont- 
gomery ;  the  Fifty-sixth,  under  Hoffman ;  the  Sixty- 
fifth,  better  known  as  the  Fifth  Cavalry ;  the  Seventy- 
fourth,  from  Pittsburg;  the  Seventy-fifth,  under  Boh- 
len ;  the  Seventy-ninth,  from  Lancaster ;  the  Eighty- 
eighth,  from  Berks  and  Philadelphia,  with  General 
Louis  Wagner;  the  Ninety-sixth,  from  Schuylkill; 
the  Ninety-seventh,  under  Pennypacker,  from  Chester 
and  Delaware;  the  Ninety-eighth,  the  old  Twenty- 
first  reorganized,  under  Ballier,  thoroughly  German 
in  rank  and  file;  the  One  Hundred  and  Twelfth,  or 
Second  Artillery, — so  large  a  regiment  that  out  of  it 
a  second  regiment  was  organized;  the  One  Hundred 
and  Thirteenth,  or  Twelfth  Cavalry,  and  the  One 
Hundred  and  Fifty-second,  or  Third  Artillery, — 
almost  distinctively  German.  Then  there  were  the 
One  Hundred  and  Thirtieth,  from  York ;  the  One 
Hundred  and  Thirty-first,  from  Northumberland ; 
and  the  One  Hundred  and  Fifty-third,  from  North- 
ampton,— it  was  brigaded  under  Sigel,  Stahel,  and 
Von  Gilsa,  with  the  New  York  regiments  of  Salm, 

9* 


I02  THE    GERMAN  SOLDIER    IN  THE 

Holmstedt,  and  Von  Amsberg,  and  the  Eighty- 
second  Illinois,  of  Hecker, — nothing  could  point 
more  conclusively  to  the  German  element  in  the  war 
than  such  names  as  these. 

The  One  Hundred  and  Sixty-eighth  Pennsylvania 
Volunteers,  from  Berks,  was  organized  and  com- 
manded by  Charles  A.  Knoderer.  . 

This  is  a  fair  proportion  of  the  two  hundred  and 
fifteen  regiments,  nine  batteries,  two  independent 
companies,  and  eleven  colored  regiments  raised  in 
Pennsylvania,  and  even  a  hasty  glance  at  the  long 
list  of  names  of  officers  and  men  of  the  successive 
regiments  will  show  a  large  German  element  scat- 
tered throughout  them.  One  of  the  best  elements  of 
the  little  regular  army  was  the  supply  of  excellent 
non-commissioned  officers,  largely  old  German  sol- 
diers, and  it  was  a  great  stroke  of  good  fortune  when 
a  volunteer  company  had  one  of  these  well-trained 
and  well-disciplined  men  in  its  ranks, — he  steadied 
the  whole  line,  and  gave  it  an  example  of  soldierly 
excellence  in  every  particular. 

Such  a  man  was  Edward  Scherer,  first  sergeant  of 
Company  B,  of  the  One  Hundred  and  Twenty-first 
Pennsylvania  Volunteers, — a  German  who  had  served 
in  a  battery  of  the  Third  United  States  Artillery, 


WARS   OF  THE    UNITED   STATES. 


103 


under  some  of  the  most  distinguished  officers  of  the 
regular  army.  Such  men  as  Reynolds  and  Burnside 
recognized  him  as  an  old  comrade,  and  his  bearing 
and  gallantry  and  knowledge  of  the  real  business 
of  soldiering  were  the  object  of  universal  admira- 
tion among  the  green  hands,  both  officers  and  men, 
of  his  regiment..  He  fell  at  the  battle  of  Fred- 
ericksburg,  Virginia,  and  he  was  but  a  type  of  that 
large  number  of  German  soldiers  who  served  in  the 
ranks,  and  who,  like  Scherer,  sacrificed  good  em- 
ployment at  home  to  do  their  duty  to  the  country 
of  their  adoption  at  its  hour  of  supreme  peril  and 
trial. 

A  characteristic  and  distinguished  example  of  the 
services  rendered  by  our  Pennsylvanians  of  German 
descent  is  the  brilliant  career  of  General  G.  Penny- 
packer,  of  the  Ninth  and  the  Ninety-seventh  Penn- 
sylvania Volunteers.  Born  in  1842,  at  Valley 
Forge,  he  was  one  of  the  descendants  of  Heinrich 
Pannebacker,  who  came  to  America  from  Germany 
before  1699,  and  settled  on  Skippack  Creek.  Many 
of  this  family  settled  in  the  adjoining  counties  of 
Montgomery,  Chester,  and  Berks,  and  of  the  later 
generations  not  a  few  found  their  way  into  Vir- 
ginia, Kentucky,  Tennessee,  and  Mississippi,  where 


104 


THE    GERMAN  SOLDIER   IN   THE 


their  names  are  found  in  positions  of  importance  and 
trust. 

On  the  rolls  of  those  who  served  in  the  Revolu- 
tion and  the  later  wars  of  the  Republic,  there  are 
many  representatives  of  this  old  German  stock.  The 
Pennypacker  war  record  is  a  notable  one.  During 
the  Revolution  this  family  had  as  its  representatives 
in  the  Continental  army,  a  captain,  an  ensign,  a  lieu- 
tenant, a  corporal,  and  a  private.  In  the  war  of 
1812  it  had  two  of  its  members  in  the  field;  in  the 
Mexican  war,  three.  In  the  war  of  the  Rebellion 
it  furnished  to  the  Union  army  two  major-generals, 
one  adjutant-general,  one  colonel,  one  surgeon,  one 
assistant  surgeon,  two  captains,  one  lieutenant,  five 
sergeants,  eight  corporals,  one  musician,  and  sixty- 
five  privates.  To  the  Southern  army  it  gave  one 
lieutenant-colonel,  one  quartermaster,  four  captains, 
five  lieutenants,  and  twenty-eight  enlisted  men, — a 
total  of  one  hundred  and  twenty-eight.  No  doubt 
this  list  could  be  increased  if  all  branches  of  the  old 
stock  reported  their  military  contingent.  At  all 
events  it  is  worth  pointing  out,  that  others  may  try 
to  parallel  it  by  a  diligent  search  through  their  own 
records  for  other  examples  of  the  kind.  The  great- 
grandfather of  General  Pennypacker  was  a  bishop  of 


WARS   OF   THE    UNITED   STATES. 


105 


the  Mennonite  Church  ;  his  father  was  on  the  staff  of 
General  Worth  in  the  Mexican  war.  At  the  age  of 
eighteen,  after  he  had  begun  life  as  a  printer,  young 
Pennypacker  became  a  member  of  a  local  volunteer 
company,  and  marched  with  it  to  Harrisburg  on  the 
first  summons  for  troops  in  1861,  serving  with  it  in 
the  Ninth  Regiment.  He  soon  became  captain  and 
then  major  of  the  reorganized  regiment  in  the  three- 
years'  service,  the  Ninety-seventh,  and  bravely  fought 
his  way  through  the  war,  became  colonel  of  the  regi- 
ment, was  soon  put  in  command  of  a  brigade,  won  his 
star  as  a  brigadier-general  for  his  gallantry  at  the  cap- 
ture of  Fort  Fisher,  at  twenty-two  was  the  youngest 
general  officer  in  the  war,  and  was  brevetted  a  major- 
general.  In  1866  he  quietly  settled  down  to  study 
law,  when  he  was  appointed  colonel  of  the  Thirty- 
fourth  Infantry  in  the  regular  army,  then  assigned  to 
the  Sixteenth ;  he  was  the  youngest  colonel  in  the 
regular  army,  and  finally  retired  in  1883  at  an  age 
when  with  most  men  a  career  of  distinction  such  as 
his  is  usually  just  beginning. 

Zinn,  of  the  One  Hundred  and  Thirtieth;  Schall, 
of  the  Fifty-first,  one  of  eight  brothers  in  the  army  ; 
Brenholz,  of  the  Fiftieth ;  Gries,  of  the  One  Hun- 
dred and  Fourth ;  Kohler,  of  the  Ninety-eighth,  were 


I06  THE    GERMAN  SOLDIER   IN  THE 

all  of  Pennsylvania  birth,  but  of  German  descent. 
Knoderer,  of  the  One  Hundred  and  Sixty-eighth, 
was  born  in  Baden,  was  educated  at  Carlsruhe,  at 
the  Polytechnical  School,  and  left  the  service  of  the 
government  to  join  Sigel's  force  in  the  unsuccessful 
revolution  of  1849.  In  Reading  (Pennsylvania)  he 
found  a  new  home  and  employment  as  a  civil  engi- 
neer; but  when  the  Rebellion  broke  out  he  went 
first  as  a  captain  of  engineers  on  Sigel's  staff,  then 
enlisted  as  a  private  and  was  elected  colonel  of  the 
Eleventh  Pennsylvania,  and  afterwards  was  appointed 
colonel  of  the  One  Hundred  and  Sixty-eighth  Penn- 
sylvania, and  fell  at  its  head  on  the  3<Dth  January, 
1863,  near  Suffolk,  Virginia. 

Ballier  was  born  in  Wurtemberg  in  1815  ;  studied 
at  the  Military  School  at  Stuttgard  in  1833-34;  set- 
tled in  Philadelphia,  where  he  was  a  member  of  the 
Washington  Guard,  the  first  German  military  organi- 
zation in  the  North,  in  1836;  enlisted  as  a  private  in 
the  First  Pennsylvania  for  the  Mexican  war,  was 
made  major  for  his  services  there, — then  was  colonel 
of  the  Twenty-first  and  of  the  Ninety-eighth  for  the 
Rebellion.  Twice  seriously  wounded,  he  still  re- 
mains with  us  to  renew  the  recollection  of  his  varied 
experiences,  a  veteran  of  many  battles. 


WARS   OF  THE    UNITED   STATES. 


IO7 


Hartranft's  commission  as  brigadier-general  was 
won  by  his  services  at  Bull  Run,  Antietam,  Freder- 
icksburg;  and  as  the  hero  of  Fort  Stedman  he  be- 
came a  major-general.  His  services  in  civil  life  have 
been  equally  distinguished,  and  his  career  is  marked 
by  well-earned  honors,  as  Governor  of  Pennsylvania, 
as  the  chief  representative  of  the  Federal  Govern- 
ment in  Philadelphia,  and  as  the  head  of  the  State 
militia. 

Everard  Bierer,  colonel  of  the  One  Hundred  and 
Seventy-first  Pennsylvania,  was  the  son  of  German 
parents,  settled  in  Fayette  County.  He  won  his  first 
successes  in  the  Eleventh  Pennsylvania  Reserves, 
was  appointed  by  Governor  Curtin  to  be  colonel  of 
the  One  Hundred  and  Seventy-first,  and  was  pro- 
moted to  the  command  of  a  brigade.  Now  he 
is  a  successful  lawyer,  legislator,  and  farmer  in 
Kansas. 

Colonel  Lehmann,  of  the  One  Hundred  and  Third, 
was  born  in  Hanover  in  1812,  was  educated  there  at 
the  military  school,  served  for  six  years  in  the  army, 
and  in  1837  came  to  Pittsburg,  where  he  became  a 
teacher.  He  organized  the  Sixty-second  Pennsylva- 
nia, was  its  lieutenant-colonel,  then  was  colonel  of 
the  One  Hundred  and  Third,  and  after  the  war  re- 


I0g  THE    GERMAN  SOLDIER   IN  THE 

sumed  his  work  of  education,  and  became  president 
of  the  Western  Pennsylvania  Military  Academy. 

The  Wistars  who  served  in  the  war  by  the  half  a 
score  were  all  of  that  good  old  German  stock  whose 
representatives  are  so  well  and  honorably  known  in 
every  walk  of  life  in  their  native  city  and  far  beyond  it. 

Philadelphia  sent  General  Isaac  J.  Wistar,  colonel 
of  the  Seventy-first  Pennsylvania ;  Major  Joseph  W. 
Wistar,  of  the  Eighth  Pennsylvania  Cavalry ;  Colo- 
nel Francis  Wistar,  captain  of  the  Twelfth  United 
States  Infantry,  and  colonel  of  the  Two  Hundred 
and  Fifteenth  Pennsylvania ;  Colonel  Langhorne  Wis- 
tar, captain  of  the  First  Pennsylvania  Rifles,  "  Buck- 
tails,"  colonel  of  the  One  Hundred  and  Fiftieth  Penn- 
sylvania, and  brevet  brigadier-general ;  Colonel  Wil- 
liam Rotch  Wistar,  of  the  Twentieth  Pennsylvania 
Cavalry. 

William  Doster,  colonel  of  the  Fourth  Cavalry, 
was  born  in  Bethlehem,  Pennsylvania,  where  his 
father,  a  native  of  Swabia,  settled  in  1817,  marrying 
the  daughter  of  a  Vorsteher  of  the  Brethren's 
House,  the  granddaughter  of  a  Revolutionary  sol- 
dier. A  graduate  of  Yale  of  '57,  and  of  the  Har- 
vard Law  School  of  '59,  he  studied  law  in  Heidel- 
berg and  Paris.  Returning  to  this  country,  he 


WARS   OF   THE    UNITED   STATES. 

became  major  of  the  Fourth  Pennsylvania  Cavalry, 
led  it  in  the  Chancellorsville  and  Gettysburg  cam- 
paigns, and  was  promoted  for  his  services. 

General  J.  William  Hofmann,  colonel  of  the  Fifty- 
sixth  Pennsylvania,  was  the  son  of  Prussian  parents, 
who  settled  in  Philadelphia  in  1819.  Long  an  active 
member  of  local  militia  organizations,  he  went  to  the 
field  a  thorough  soldier,  and  his  career  was  one  of 
distinguished  gallantry,  characterized  alike  by  merit 
and  modesty.  The  opinion  of  all  his  superior  offi- 
cers was  an  unbroken  and  unanimous  approval  of  his 
ability  and  his  courage,  and  he  deserves,  as  he  has 
won,  and  he  enjoys,  the  respect  of  his  fellow-citizens 
for  the  distinguished  services  he  rendered  in  all  the 
responsible  positions  assigned  him  during  his  long 
period  of  active  service. 

General  Adolph  Bushbeck  was  born  in  Coblenz, 
Prussia,  in  1822,  the  son  of  a  German  officer.  From 
his  eleventh  to  his  seventeenth  year  he  was  at  the 
cadet  school  in  Berlin,  then  became  ensign  and  lieu- 
tenant, and  at  the  suggestion  of  Steinwehr  was  ap- 
pointed instructor  at  the  cadet  school  at  Potsdam, 
from  1847  to  I852.  In  1853  he  came  to  Philadel- 
phia, and  was  well  and  favorably  known  as  a  suc- 
cessful teacher.  When  the  Rebellion  broke  out  he 

10 


IIO  THE    GERMAN  SOLDIER   IN   THE 

became  major,  and  later  colonel  of  the  Twenty- 
seventh  Pennsylvania,  and  in  that  and  his  successive 
commands,  as  general  of  brigade  and  division,  won 
unstinted  praise  for  his  high  soldierly  qualities. 
From  General  Sherman  he  received  warm  commen- 
dation. The  war  over,  he  returned  to  Philadelphia, 
and  resumed  his  former  occupation  for  some  years, 
and  then,  going  abroad  with  his  family,  died  in  Flor- 
ence, Italy,  in  1883. 

Henry  Bohlen  was  born  in  Bremen  in  1810.  As 
early  as  1831,  on  the  recommendation  of  Lafayette, 
he  was  appointed  on  the  staff  of  General  Gerard, 
and  served  during  the  siege  of  Antwerp.  In  the 
Mexican  war  he  served  on  the  staff  of  General 
Worth,  and  took  part  in  many  'engagements.  In 
the  Crimean  war  he  served  in  the  French  army,  and 
at  the  outbreak  of  the  Rebellion,  returning  from 
Europe,  where  he  was  living  in  great  splendor,  enjoy- 
ing a  large  fortune  and  a  brilliant  social  position,  he 
raised  the  Seventy-fifth,  a  German  regiment,  mainly 
at  his  own  expense,  and  led  it  with  such  distinguished 
gallantry  that  he  was  commended  in  warm  terms  by 
Fremont  and  Sigel,  under  whom  he  served,  and  was 
soon  appointed  a  brigadier-general.  His  brilliant 
career  ended  in  his  death  in  action,  in  August,  1862. 


WARS    OF  THE    UNITED  STATES.  UI 

The  Vezins — Oscar,  Henry,  Alfred — served  with 
credit  in  various  branches  of  the  service,  always 
doing  honor  to  a  name  that  belongs  to  one  of  the 
oldest  merchants  of  Philadelphia  in  its  days  of  great- 
ness as  a  commercial  city. 

Henry  Vezin  was  captain  Company  G,  Fifth  Penn- 
sylvania Cavalry;  Alfred,  captain  Company  C,  Fif- 
teenth Pennsylvania  Cavalry,  and  afterwards  adju- 
tant Fourth  Missouri  Cavalry. 

The  name  of  General  John  A.  Koltes  is  perpetu- 
ated in  that  of  the  Post  No.  228  of  the  Grand  Army 
of  the  Republic,  which  thus  does  due  honor  to  that 
gallant  soldier.  He  organized  the  Seventy-third 
Regiment,  originally  known  as  the  Pennsylvania 
Legion,  Forty-fifth  of  the  line.  It  was  recruited  in 
Philadelphia,  in  June  and  July,  1861,  and  was  first  at 
a  rendezvous  at  Lemon  Hill.  Colonel  Koltes,  Lieu- 
tenant-Colonel Muehleck,  Major  Schott,  were  the 
field-officers.  It  joined  Blenker's  division  in  Sep- 
tember, and  went  with  it  through  the  West  Virginia 
campaign  under  Fremont  and  Sigel,  and  then  under 
Pope  into  the  second  Bull  Run.  Koltes  was  in  com- 
mand of  the  brigade,  and  Brueckner  of  the  regiment, 
when  they  both  fell  in  action  on  the  3Oth  of  August, 
1862,  gallantly  leading  their  men  against  an  over- 


II2  THE    GERMAN  SOLDIER  IN  THE 

whelming  force.  General  Schurz,  in  his  report  as 
division  commander,  commends  the  conduct  of 
Koltes  and  his  brigade,  temporarily  attached  to  his 
division.  It  consisted  of  the  Sixty-eighth  New 
York,  the  Twenty-ninth  New  York,  and  the  Seventy- 
third  Pennsylvania,  with  Dilger's  Battery.  He  says, 
"  The  gallant  Koltes  died  a  noble  death  at  the  head 
of  his  brave  regiments,"  and  he  deplores  "  the  brave 
and  noble  Koltes."  General  Sigel,  who  commanded 
the  First  Corps,  regrets,  in  his  report,  "  the  death  of 
the  intrepid  Koltes." 

General  Koltes  was  born  in  Treves  in  1827,  and 
came  to  this  country  while  he  was  still  a  lad,  in  his 
seventeenth  year.  He  became  a  teacher  in  a  Catholic 
institute  in  Pittsburg,  enlisted  in  1846  as  a  volunteer 
in  the  Mexican  war,  and  afterwards  in  the  regular 
army.  On  his  return  he  was  employed  in  the  United 
States  Mint,  became  a  member  of  the  Scott  Legion, 
and  took  an  active  part  in  the  local  militia.  He 
drilled  the  Mannerchor  Rifle  Guards  for  home  ser- 
vice, and  recruited  a  regiment  for  the  war.  He  re- 
ceived a  commission  as  brigadier-general,  and  it  was 
at  the  head  of-  his  brigade  that  he  fell  in  action  at 
the  second  Bull  Run.  Koltes  was,  like  Ballier, 
Binder,  and  Bohlen,  one  of  the  active  spirits  in  the 


WARS   OF  THE    UNITED   STATES.  n$ 

early  military  organizations  in  Philadelphia.  Besides 
the  Philadelphia  regiments,  they  furnished  for  the 
war  four  companies  of  Philadelphia  Turners,  who 
joined  their  comrades  in  the  Turner  Regiment,  or- 
ganized in  New  York  under  Colonel  Soest,  and  many 
went  into  New  Jersey  regiments  and  those  of  other 
States. 

Among  the  young  Germans  of  Philadelphia,  Fritz 
Tiedeman  has  a  high  place  for  his  gallant  services. 
He  was,  successively,  quartermaster-sergeant,  second 
lieutenant,  adjutant,  and  captain  of  the  Seventy-fifth 
Pennsylvania,  and  then  on  the  staff  of  General 
Schurz;  and  his  brother,  who  fell  early  in  the  war, 
gave  promise  of  equal  merit. 

General  Louis  Wagner  was  born  in  Giessen, 
Germany,  in  1838,  and  came  to  Philadelphia  as  a 
lad  with  his  father,  a  revolutionary  refugee,  in  1849. 
Educated  at  the  public  schools,  in  1861  he  entered 
the  service  as  a  first  lieutenant  of  the  Eighty-eighth 
Pennsylvania  Volunteers,  and  at  the  close  was 
colonel  of  the  regiment  and  a  brevet  brigadier-gen- 
eral. Returning  to  civil  life,  he  organized  the  Grand 
Army  of  the  Republic  in  Pennsylvania,  in  1879,  and 
has  been  one  of  the  leading  men  of  that  organization 

ever  since.     He  has  taken  a  very  active  part  in  other 

10* 


THE    GERMAN  SOLDIER   IN  THE 

civil  and  military  bodies,  and  has  been  honored  by 
many  elective  offices  and  appointments,  all  of  which 
he  has  filled  with  characteristic  zeal  and  energy. 

New  York,  as  the  gathering  place  of  all  nationali- 
ties, naturally  sent  many  Germans  to  the  army.  The 
Thirty-ninth,  or  Garibaldi  Guard,  consisted  of  three 
companies  of  Germans,  three  of  Hungarians,  one 
each  of  Swiss,  Italians,  and  French,  and  one  of  Span- 
ish and  Portuguese. 

The  Seventh  Regiment  Infantry,  New  York  State 
Volunteers,  or  "  Steuben  Rangers,"  organized  by 
Colonel  John  E.  Bendix,  and  reorganized  by  Colonel 
G.  von  Schach,  had,  as  its  original  officers,  Lieutenant- 
Colonel  Edward  Kapff,  Major  C.  Keller,  and  Captains 
Goebel,  Boecht,  Brestel,  Pfeiffer,  Anselm,  Hocheimen 
S.  L.  Kapff,  Schonleber,  Bethan,  Wratislau. 

The  Eighth,  or  "  First  German  Rifles,"  was  organ- 
ized by  Blenker,  who  commanded  a  brigade  at  the 
first  Bull  Run,  and  a  division  under  Fremont  in 
the  valley  campaign.  It  was  in  Sigel's  corps  in  the 
second  Battle  of  Bull  Run. 

The  Twentieth,  or  "  United  Turner  Rifles,"  was 
organized  by  the  New  York  Turn-Verein,  in  April, 
1861,  from  its  societies.  German  citizens  provided 
the  money  for  its  expenses ;  a  committee  of  ladies, 


WARS  OF  THE    UNITED  STATES.  n$ 

called  the  "  Turner-sisters,"  supplied  many  necessa- 
ries. Max  Weber  was  its  colonel,  Franz  Weiss  lieu- 
tenant-colonel, and  Englebert  Schnepf  major. 

The  Twenty-ninth,  or  "  Astor  Rifles,"  was  organ- 
ized by  Steinwehr,  who,  in  his  farewell  order,  says  it 
was  the  last  to  leave  the  field  at  Bull  Run,  and  served 
with  distinction  under  Fremont,  Sigel,  and  at  Chan- 
cellorsville,  and  earned  a  place  in  the  history  of  the 
war. 

The  Fifth  New  York  State  Militia  was  a  German 
organization, — its  officers  were,  Colonel  Schwarzwal- 
der,  Lieutenant-Colonel  Burger,  Major  von  Amsberg. 

Of  the  Forty-first,  or  De  Kalb  Guards,  Colonel 
von  Gilsa,  seven  hundred  of  its  men  had  been  in  the 
Prussian  service  in  the  Schleswig-Holstein  war.  One 
company  was  raised  in  Philadelphia,  and  another  in 
Newark,  New  Jersey. 

The  Fifty-second  Regiment  Infantry,  New  York 
State  Volunteers,  was  organized  at  Staten  Island, 
New  York,  in  the  autumn  of  1861,  by  the  consolida- 
tion of  four  companies  of  the  "  Sigel  Rifles,"  and 
six  companies  of  the  "  German  Rangers,"  under 
Colonel  Paul  Frank. 

The  commanders  of  companies  were : 

A.     Captain  Charles  G.  Freudenberg. 


H6  THE    GERMAN  SOLDIER   IN  THE 

B.  Captain  Henry  L.  Klein. 

C.  Captain  Gustave  Schultze. 

D.  Captain  Oscar  von  Schoening. 

E.  Captain  J.  C.  Messerschmidt. 

F.  Captain  Charles  Mohring. 

G.  Captain  O.  C.  Garwin. 
H.  Captain  Jacob  Rueger. 

I.    Captain  Adolphus  Becker. 

K.    Captain  Francis  Benzler. 

The  lieutenant-colonel  was  Louis  Kasouzki;  major, 
Philip  C.  Lichtenstein. 

A  national  flag,  a  regimental  flag,  and  two  guidons 
were  presented  by  the  German  ladies  of  New  York. 

It  formed  part  of  the  Third  Brigade,  First  Divis- 
ion, Second  Corps,  was  brigaded '  with  the  Fifty- 
seventh  and  Sixty-sixth  New  York,  and  Fifty-third 
Pennsylvania,  under  Sumner,  French,  Zook,  and 
Frank. 

At  Antietam  it  lost  its  lieutenant-colonel,  Lichten- 
stein;  at  Gettysburg,  its  brigade  commander,  Zook;  in 
the  Wilderness  campaign  under  Hancock,  two  gal- 
lant Germans,  Count  Hacke  and  Baron  von  Steuben, 
both  officers  of  the  Prussian  army,  serving  as  volun- 
teers in  that  of  the  Union.  Count  Hacke  was  a 
brave  and  gentle  comrade,  of  kind,  modest,  and  un- 


WARS    OF   THE    UNITED   STATES. 


117 


assuming  manners,  endeared  to  his  fellow-soldiers 
by  his  manly  virtues.  His  epitaph  is  written  in  the 
hearts  of  all  who  knew  him,  as  a  brave  and  true 
soldier,  who  fell  in  battle  for  a  noble  cause. 

In  October  of  1864,  the  remnant  of  the  original 
Fifty-second,  five  officers  and  thirty-five  men,  under 
Major  Retzius,  returned  to  New  York.  Colonel 
Frank,  promoted  to  be  a  brigadier-general,  was  suc- 
ceeded by  Colonel  Karples,  and  under  him  the 
regiment  was  finally  mustered  out  in  July,  1865.  Of 
the  two  thousand  eight  hundred  whose  names 
appear  on  its  rolls,  only  two  hundred  returned; 
thirty-four  of  its  officers  were  killed  or  disabled  dur- 
ing its  four  years  of  service. 

The  Military  Order  of  the  Loyal  Legion  is  for  the 
Union  army  what  the  Society  of  the  Cincinnati  was 
for  the  Revolutionary  army.  Its  records  preserve 
and  perpetuate  the  memories  of  many  gallant  sol- 
diers. Among  them  is  to  be  found  a  sketch  of  the 
life  and  services  of  Carl  Gottfried  Freudenberg.  Born 
in  Heidelberg,  Germany,  May  I,  1833,  at  an  early 
age  he  entered  the  military  service  as  a  cadet  in  the 
Carlsruhe  School.  While  there  the  revolution  of 
1848  broke  out,  and,  although  but  fifteen,  he  took 
the  field  with  his  fellow-students,  and  was  engaged 


Ug  THE    GERMAN  SOLDIER   IN  THE 

in  the  battle  fought  near  Mannheim.  As  his  mind 
matured  it  developed  such  conclusions  upon  political 
liberty  as  impelled  him  to  forego  brilliant  prospects 
of  preferment,  and  he  came  to  the  United  States  a 
few  years  before  the  great  Rebellion.  When  a  call 
was  issued  for  soldiers  he  raised  a  company  of  in- 
fantry, and  with  it  entered  the  service  as  captain  of 
the  Fifty-second  New  York  Volunteer  Infantry,  Au- 
gust 3,  1 86 1.  On  the  pth  of  November  he  became 
its  major,  and  was  severely  wounded  at  the  battle 
of  Fair  Oaks.  On  November  24,  1862,  he  was  pro- 
moted lieutenant-colonel,  and  commanded  his  regi- 
ment at  Chancellorsville  and  Gettysburg,  where  he 
was  again  desperately  wounded.  Forced  to  leave 
the  field  by  his  injuries,  he  resigned  his  commission 
in  the  Fifty-second  New  York  and  accepted  an  ap- 
pointment as  major  in  the  Veteran  Reserve  Corps, 
organized  the  Twenty-third  Regiment,  and  on  April 
22,  1864,  became  its  lieutenant-colonel,  serving  in 
the  Bureau  of  Refugees,  Freedmen,  and  Abandoned 
Lands,  as  commandant  at  Milwaukee,  as  inspector- 
general  and  commandant  of  the  District  of  Wiscon- 
sin. On  the  reorganization  of  the  army  he  was  ap- 
pointed captain  of  the  Forty-fifth  (Veteran  Reserve) 
Infantry;  in  1869  was  transferred  to  the  Fourteenth 


WARS   OF   THE    UNITED   STATES. 

Infantry,  was  brevetted  colonel  of  volunteers,  and  as 
major  and  lieutenant-colonel  of  the  regular  army. 
In  May,  1870,  he  went  with  his  regiment  to  the 
Northwest,  to  quell  a  threatened  Indian  outbreak, 
but  in  December  he  was  obliged  to  go  on  the  retired 
list  as  captain,  and  in  1877  he  was  promoted  lieu- 
tenant-colonel. He  died  in  Washington,  August  28, 
1885,  enjoying  the  confidence  and  affection  of  all 
who  knew  him,  as  the  very  embodiment  of  personal 
honor  and  soldierly  virtue. 

One  of  the  most  effective  services  rendered  the 
cause  of  the  Union  was  the  long  series  of  political 
cartoons  furnished  to  Harper's  Weekly  during  the 
civil  war  by  Thomas  Nast,  born  on  the  Rhine  in 
1840.  His  pencil  was  recognized  far  and  wide  as 
that  of  a  sturdy  champion,  and  his  productions  were 
heartily  welcomed  by  the  soldiers  in  the  field  and 
by  earnest  patriots  everywhere.  Thomas  Nast  was 
born  in  Landau,  Bavaria,  September  27,  1840,  and 
came  with  his  mother  to  New  York  in  1846,  and 
was  there  joined  in  1849  by  his  father,  who  had 
served  on  the  man-of-war  "  Ohio."  He  began  to 
work  on  Frank  Leslie's  illustrated  paper,  studied  in 
the  Academy  of  Design,  made  a  campaign  with  Gari- 
baldi in  1860,  sending  sketches  to  the  New  York, 


12Q  THE    GERMAN  SOLDIER   IN  THE 

London,  and  Paris  illustrated  papers,  returning  to 
New  York  in  1861.  His  contributions  to  Harper's 
Weekly  became  historical,  and  have  received  the 
well-merited  praise  of  historians  and  art  critics. 
They  were  useful  in  keeping  alive  the  loyal  feeling 
of  the  North,  and  received  the  hearty  plaudits  of  the 
soldiers  in  the  field.  When  peace  was  restored  he 
won  new  honors  in  the  civil  contest  that  waged 
over  Andrew  Johnson's  administration,  and  even  now 
he  fights  for  good  government  with  his  pencil. 

The  Princess  Salm-Salm,  in  her  book,  "Ten  Years 
of  My  Life," — and  a  very  adventurous  one  it  was, — 
describes  the  camp  of  the  German  division  (Blen- 
ker's)  in  front  of  Washington,  in  the  fall  of  1861,  as 
the  principal  point  of  attraction.  It  consisted  of 
about  twelve  thousand  men,  under  Blenker  and  Stein- 
wehr,  who  had  gained  great  credit  for  protecting  the 
retreat  from  the  first  Bull  Run.  Blenker  was  born  in 
Tours,  had  served  in  the  Bavarian  army  and  in  that 
of  Greece  under  its  Bavarian  king,  took  part  in  the 
German  revolution  of  '48,  fled  to  Switzerland,  then 
came  to  New  York,  and  was  farming  when  the  Re- 
bellion broke  out.  He  raised  the  Eighth  New  York, 
and  Prussian  and  Austrian  soldiers  furnished  a  con- 
siderable proportion  of  its  officers,  among  them 


WARS   OF   THE    UNITED  STATES.  I2i 

Prince  Salm-Salm,  who  served  to  the  end  of  the 
war,  then  in  Mexico,  and  finally  fell  in  the  Franco- 
Prussian  war.  Another  of  his  officers  was  Corvin, 
who,  after  six  years  in  Prussian  prisons  as  a  penalty 
for  his  share  in  the  German  revolution,  came  to  this 
country  as  the  war  correspondent  of  the  London 
Times  and  the  Augsburger  Allgemeine  Zeitung. 

Among  other  German  officers  were  von  der 
Groeben;  von  Schack,  colonel  of  the  Seventh  New 
York;  von  Buggenhagen,  one  of  its  captains;  von 
Radowitz,  Schwenke,  Gerber,  Max  Weber;  Schirmer, 
chief  of  artillery  of  the  Eleventh  Corps;  von  Putt- 
kammer,  of  the  Third  Corps ;  von  Amsberg,  von 
Gilsa,  von  Kusserow,  von  Kleisser;  von  Schrader, 
of  the  Seventy-fourth  Ohio,  killed  in  action;  von 
Trebra,  of  the  Thirty-second  Indiana;  and  Leppien, 
lieutenant-colonel  of  the  First  Maine  Artillery,  one 
of  the  most  gallant  soldiers,  from  Philadelphia. 

Carl  Schurz  was  the  first  colonel  of  the  first  regi- 
ment of  volunteer  cavalry  duly  authorized  to  be 
raised.  On  his  way  to  New  York  he  found  Chor- 
man's  Rangers  also  inviting  recruits,  while  other 
cavalry  companies  were  being  busily  raised  in  Phila- 
delphia. In  New  York  he  found  additional  coun- 
trymen at  work, — Frederick  von  Schickfuss,  August 


122  THE    GERMAN  SOLDIER   IN  THE 

Haurand,  Count  Haake,  von  Blankenburg,  Bern  de 
Tavergnier,  von  Strautz,  von  Veltheim,  Count  Fer- 
dinand Storch,  and  Count  von  Moltke,  Hendricks, 
Passegger,  Hertzog, — who  soon  found  plenty  of  men. 
Schurz  himself  went  to  Spain  as  minister,  and  the 
regiment  was  fortunate  in  having  for  its  first  colonel 
in  the  field  A.  T.  M.  Reynolds,  a  very  good,  experi- 
enced soldier.  The  four  companies  of  Germans  were 
all  old  soldiers.  Their  record  through  the  war  is  a 
very  creditable  one,  and  the  First  New  York  Cav- 
alry did  its  work  so  well  that  Germans  may  be  proud 
of  their  countrymen  in  it  both  from  New  York  and 
Pennsylvania. 

The  German  element  in  the  cavalry  and  artillery 
went  far  to  make  both  of  these  arms  of  the  service 
efficient  and  capable.  In  every  regiment  of  cavalry 
and  in  every  battery  of  artillery  there  were  found  old 
German  soldiers,  trained  in  a  way  that  made  them 
models  for  the  green  recruits,  and  instructors  alike 
of  officers  and  men.  In  most  of  the  regiments  of 
the  regular  army  there  were  privates  and  non-com- 
missioned officers,  Germans  by  birth  and  soldiers  by 
training,  who  were  looked  on  with  the  respect  that 
courage  and  discipline  always  secure.  Many  of 
them  were  promoted  to  commissions,  and  some  of 


WARS   OF   THE    UNITED   STATES. 


123 


them  commanded  volunteer  regiments  with  great 
credit.  One  of  the  most  notable  trained  and  veteran 
German  soldiers  was  Adolph  von  Steinwehr,  who 
was  born  September  25,  1825,  at  Blankenburg  in 
Brunswick.  His  father  was  a  major,  his  grandfather 
a  lieutenant-general.  He  studied  in  the  military 
school,  became  a  lieutenant,  came  to  the  United 
States,  and  served  as  an  officer  of  an  Alabama  regi- 
ment during  the  Mexican  war.  He  was  employed 
as  an  engineer  by  the  United  States,  married  in 
Mobile,  returned  to  Germany,  and  then  became  a 
farmer  in  Connecticut.  At  the  outbreak  of  the  civil 
war  he  became  colonel  of  the  Twenty-ninth  New 
York,  part  of  the  Germans  that  excited  interest  and 
admiration  by  their  steadiness  at  the  first  Bull  Run. 
This  led  to  the  organization  of  a  German  division 
under  Blenker, — the  First  Brigade  under  Stahel :  the 
Eighth,  Wutschel;  Thirty-ninth,  D'Utassy;  and  Forty- 
fifth,  von  Amsberg,  New  York ;  and  Twenty-seventh 
Pennsylvania,  Bushbeck;  Second  Brigade,  Steinwehr: 
Twenty-ninth,  Kozlay  ;  Fifty-fourth,  Kryzanowsky ; 
Fifty-eighth,  Gellman,  New  York;  Seventy-third 
Pennsylvania,  Koltes;  Third  Brigade,  Bohlen:  Forty- 
first,  Von  Gilsa,  and  Sixty-eighth  New  York,  Klee- 
fisch;  Seventy-fourth,  Schimmelpfennig;  Seventy-fifth 


124 


THE    GERMAN  SOLDIER  IN  THE 


Pennsylvania,  Mahler;  Fourth  New  York  Cavalry, 
Dickel ;  batteries  of  Schirmer,  Wilderich,  and  Sturm- 
fels.  There  were  changes  in  the  organization  in 
which  Sigel  and  Schurz  obtained  successive  com- 
mands. Finally  at  Chancellorsville  the  tide  turned, 
and  the  Germans  of  the  Eleventh  Corps  were  spoken 
of  as  if  the  ill-fortune  of  the  battle  was  due  to  them. 
Steinwehr,  however,  was  always  honored  for  the  con- 
duct of  his  troops,  and  at  Gettysburg  again  his  mili- 
tary reputation  was  enhanced  by  his  services.  Under 
Sherman  he  won  fresh  honors  in  the  West,  and 
served  in  the  army  until  the  close  of  the  war.  From 
that  time  until  his  death  in  1877  he  was  engaged  in 
the  work  of  authorship  on  subjects  for  which  his 
thorough  training  especially  fitted  'him.  His  char- 
acter was  marked  by  many  manly  qualities,  and  his 
name  is  an  enduring  example  of  German  patriotism, 
soldiership,  and  culture. 

Leopold  von  Gilsa,  colonel  of  the  Forty-first  New 
York  Volunteers,  the  De  Kalb  regiment,  was  a 
typical  German  soldier.  Born  in  Prussia  in  1825, 
the  son  of  a  Prussian  officer,  he  served  in  that  army, 
for  which  he  was  specially  educated,  became  a  major 
in  the  Schleswig-Holstein  war,  and  soon  afterwards 
came  to  this  country.  He  was  peaceably  employed 


WARS   OF  THE    UNITED   STATES. 


125 


in  teaching  when  the  Rebellion  broke  out,  and 
then  he  organized  his  regiment,  and  won  for  it  the 
distinction  of  a  thoroughly  well-disciplined  and  ca- 
pable body  of  good  soldiers.  Wounded  at  Cross 
Keys,  he  gained  the  confidence  and  admiration  of 
his  superiors  by  the  way  in  which  he  handled  his 
regiment  and  the  brigade,  and  by  his  services  as  chief 
of  staff  to  General  Sigel  when  he  was  in  command 
of  the  Eleventh  and  Twelfth  Corps.  He  served  until 
1864,  when  he  was  mustered  out  as  colonel,  although 
he  had  served  as  commander  of  brigade  and  division. 
Returning  to  civil  life,  he  died  in  New  York  in  1870, 
in  consequence  of  the  wounds  and  exposure  inci- 
dental to  four  years  of  almost  uninterrupted  cam- 
paign life,  marches,  and  battles.  Gilsa  Post,  No.  264, 
of  the  Grand  Army  of  the  Republic,  fitly  marks  by 
the  adoption  of  his  name  the  honor  intended  to  be 
paid  his  memory  by  those  who  could  best  appreciate 
his  services  to  his  adopted  country  and  his  example 
of  the  devotion  of  his  life  to  the  cause  in  which  he 
and  his  countrymen  were  united. 

The  First  New  York  Battalion  of  Light  Artillery, 
known  as  Brickel's  Artillery,  was  composed  of  four 
batteries,  all  Germans, — Major  Brickel,  Captains  Diet- 
rich, Voegelin,  Knierim,  and  Kusserow.  After  An- 


THE    GERMAN  SOLDIER   IN  THE 

tietam,  where  Major  Arndt,  commander  of  the  bat- 
talion, was  killed,  the  batteries  were  made  indepen- 
dent, and  were  numbered  Twenty-ninth,  Thirtieth, 
Thirty-first,  and  Thirty-second.  The  Twenty-ninth 
was  afterwards  consolidated  with  the  Thirty-second, 
Captain  von  Kusserow.  Captain  Kleisser  was  pro- 
moted to  command  of  the  Thirtieth,  and  the  Thirty- 
first  was  subsequently  consolidated  with  the  Thirtieth. 
In  1865,  Kusserow  was  appointed  colonel  of  the  Sec- 
ond Regiment  of  Hancock's  Veteran  Corps.  The 
Twenty-ninth  and  Thirty-second  Batteries  were  con- 
solidated with  the  Fourth  and  Fifteenth  Indepen- 
dent Batteries,  but  retained  the  number  Thirty-second. 
Von  Kusserow  was  an  old  officer  of  the  Prussian 
army,  the  son  of  General  von  Kus"serow.  He  died 
in  Philadelphia,  and  was  buried  in  presence  of  the 
German  consul,  Major  Mergenthaler,  and  H.  Dieck, 
his  old  comrades  in  arms. 

Colorado  had  forty-two  Germans  in  the  Second 
Regiment,  besides  others  whose  nationalities  are 
given  as  Austria,  Prussia,  Poland,  Denmark,  Swe- 
den, Russia,  Norway,  Bohemia,  Saxony,  Holland, 
Bavaria,  and  Switzerland ;  so  that  even  on  the  bor- 
ders the  proportion  of  foreigners  was  a  very  large  one. 

Among  the  notable  officers  from  Illinois,  besides 


WARS   OF  THE    UNITED   STATES. 


127 


Hecker,  whose  memory  deserves  especial  mention, 
there  was  General  Knobelsdorff,  a  graduate  of  the 
military  school  at  Culm,  Prussia,  who  was  a  lieuten- 
ant in  the  Prussian  army,  joined  the  Schleswig-Hol- 
stein  army,  and  came  with  hundreds  of  his  comrades 
to  the  United  States  in  1851.  He  lived  in  Milwau- 
kee and  Chicago,  and  when  the  Rebellion  broke  out 
organized  the  Twenty-fourth  and  Forty-fourth  Illi- 
nois, commanded  a  brigade  in  Sigel's  corps,  under 
Asboth,  and  had  under  him  Colonel  Nicholas  Greu- 
sel,  of  the  Seventh  and  Thirty-sixth  Illinois,  and 
Colonel  Julius  C.  Raith,  of  the  Forty-third.  The 
Thirteenth  Illinois  Cavalry  was  also  largely  a  Ger- 
man organization. 

Adolph  Engelmann  served  in  the  Mexican  war  in 
the  Second  Illinois,  and  during  the  Rebellion  was 
colonel  of  the  Forty-third  Illinois,  receiving  the  ap- 
pointment of  brigadier-general  as  a  reward. 

His  predecessor  in  the  Forty-third  Illinois,  Julius 
Raith,  was  born  in  Germany  in  1820,  came  to  the 
United  States  in  1837,  served  as  lieutenant  in  the 
Second  Illinois  in  the  Mexican  war,  was  promoted 
to  captain,  and,  good  Democrat  as  he  had  been,  was 
ready  to  serve  in  the  war  for  the  Union  as  colonel 
of  the  Forty-third, — a  German  regiment  largely  or- 


128  THE    GERMAN  SOLDIER   IN   THE 

ganized  by  Gustav  Korner.  He  fell  at  Shiloh,  in 
command  of  a  brigade. 

Hugo  Wangelin  was  educated  at  the  military 
school  of  Berlin,  came  to  the  United  States  in  1834, 
served  in  the  Twelfth  Missouri,  under  Osterhaus,  and 
succeeded  him  in  command  of  the  regiment  when 
Osterhaus  was  promoted,  making  a  reputation  for 
distinguished  gallantry  for  himself  and  his  German 
soldiers,  representatives  of  the  best  elements  of  Ger- 
man emigration  in  the  West.  Wangelin  took  part 
in  twenty-eight  engagements,  and  died  in  1883. 

Gustav  Korner  was  a  leading  spirit  in  all  German 
organizations  in  the  West,  both  in  peace  and  war, 
and  his  term  of  office  as  governor  was  marked  by 
many  events  of  importance. 

Korner  himself  is  a  representative  German,  and  his 
earnest  efforts  to  advance  German  culture  and  to  en- 
graft it  on  American  patriotism  deserve  hearty  rec- 
ognition. His  services  in  organizing  troops  and  in 
the  executive  chair  of  Illinois  are  well  known.  His 
name  is  honorably  perpetuated  in  his  book  describing 
the  successive  and  successful  settlement  of  Germans 
throughout  the  United  States.  He  has  represented 
his  adopted  country  creditably  abroad,  and  is  now 
among  the  veterans  around  whom  cluster  the  asso- 


WARS   OF  THE    UNITED   STATES.  i2g 

ciation  of  all  that  is  best,  alike  in  German  and  Ameri- 
can patriotism. 

Thielemann's  cavalry  battalion  and  Hotaling's 
company  of  the  Second  Illinois  Cavalry,  and  Stolle- 
man's  and  D'Osband's  and  Gumbart's  artillery,  are 
among  the  German  organizations  that  received  fre- 
quent and  always  honorable  mention  in  the  history 
of  the  Western  campaigns. 

Gumbart's  Battery,  Second  Illinois  Light  Artillery, 
was  organized  by  Captain  Adolph  Schwarz,  a  son  of 
Major-General  Schwarz,  of  Baden.  He  was  severely 
wounded  at  Shiloh.  The  first  lieutenant  was  M.  W. 
Mann,  now  a  citizen  of  Texas. 

Friedrich  Hecker  is  one  of  the  names  that  unite 
Germany  and  America  in  a  common  love  of  liberty. 
Born  in  Baden  in  1811,  educated  at  Heidelberg  and 
Munich,  he  became  a  leader  of  the  Republican  party 
in  his  native  country,  and  was  recognized  as  one  of 
the  master-spirits  of  the  outbreak  of  1848.  To  its 
failure  we  owe  the  large  accession  of  many  Ger- 
mans, whose  part  in  the  Union  cause  has  become 
one  of  the  brightest  pages  of  our  history.  His  wel- 
come to  his  new  fatherland  was  hearty  and  universal. 
He  settled  down  to  a  quiet  farmer's  life  in  Illinois, 
took  an  active  share  in  the  work  of  the  Republican 


130 


THE    GERMAN  SOLDIER   IN  THE 


party,  enlisted  at  the  outbreak  of  the  Rebellion  in 
Sigel's  regiment  in  St.  Louis,  and  commanded,  suc- 
cessively, the  Twenty-fourth  and  the  Eighty- second 
Illinois  Volunteers,  and  left  the  field  only  because  he 
was  so  severely  wounded  that  he  could  no  longer 
serve  in  the  army.  Like  Carl  Schurz,  he  was  in- 
vited to  return  to  Germany  to  take  part  in  the  or- 
ganization of  its  unity  as  an  empire,  but  his  love  of 
America  and  American  freedom  made  it  impossible 
for  him  to  leave  his  home.  He  was  a  representa- 
tive man  among  the  Germans,  active  in  all  their 
best  work  in  civil  life,  and  his  death,  on  the  22d  of 
September,  1881,  called  forth  universal  expression 
of  grief  and  sorrow.  At  his  grave,  and  afterwards 
at  the  dedication  of  a  monument  to  his  memory  in 
St.  Louis,  his  old  associates  and  his  younger  admirers 
bore  testimony  to  the  respect  and  affection  in  which 
Hecker's  name  was  held.  Sigel,  Schurz,  Korner, 
Thielemann,  Rombauer,  Stifel,  Ledergerber,  Engle- 
mann,  and  many  who  had  fought  together  on  both 
continents  for  Republican  principles,  attested  the  ser- 
vice done  to  constitutional  liberty  in  Europe  and 
America  by  Friedrich  Hecker,  and  the  gratitude  of 
Germany  and  of  all  Germans  alike  in  the  old  and 
the  new  fatherland. 


WARS   OF  THE    UNITED  STATES.  i*l 

Colonel  Emile  Frey,  the  Swiss  minister  to  the 
United  States,  was  an  officer  of  Hecker's  Illinois 
regiments,  the  Twenty-fourth  and  Eighty-second, — he 
volunteered,  and  was  a  lieutenant  in  the  former  and 
became  a  major  in  the  latter,  thus  serving  as  a  sol- 
dier in  two  republics,  that  of  his  native  Switzerland 
and  in  that  of  his  temporary  home.  The  son  of  a 
distinguished  Liberal  leader  in  the  Canton  of  Basel, 
the  father  was  fortunate  enough  in  his  old  age  to 
see  him  a  soldier  in  the  American  Republic,  and 
later  the  diplomatic  representative  of  that  of  Switzer- 
land in  Washington.  Colonel  Frey's  return  to  the 
United  States  was  made  the  occasion  of  a  hearty 
welcome  alike  from  his  countrymen  and  from  his 
fellow-soldiers,  and  his  well-earned  reputation  as  a 
soldier  in  defence  of  the  American  Union  was  height- 
ened by  his  able  management  of  the  interests  of  the 
Swiss  Confederation  in  the  United  States.  The  tie 
that  unites  the  two  republics  was  greatly  strength- 
ened by  this  marked  instance  of  the  good  service 
rendered  the  Union  cause  by  its  Swiss  soldiers.  A 
sketch  of  a  Swiss  company  of  sharpshooters  serving 
during  the  war  was  printed  at  Richtersweil,  Switzer- 
land, in  1865,  under  the  title,  "  Drei  Jahre  in  der 
Potomac-armee  oder  eine  Schweitzer  Schiitzen  Com- 


132 

pagnie  im  Nordamerikanischen  Kriege"  (8vo,  pp.  228). 
The  report  made  to  the  Swiss  Confederation  by  its 
veteran  General  Dufour  is  one  of  the  best  accounts 
of  the  Federal  forces  at  the  outset,  and  the  visit  of 
that  gallant  soldier  is  still  remembered  by  all  who 
met  him  during  his  stay  in  this  country. 

Iowa  has  preserved  in  the  reports  of  the  adjutant- 
general  of  the  State  a  list  of  the  places  of  nativity  of 
its  soldiers.  Germany,  of  course,  has  its  representa- 
tives in  almost  every  organization,  and  in  the  Six- 
teenth and  Twenty-sixth  Iowa  Volunteers  there  were 
companies  entirely  composed  of  Germans,  rank  and 
file,  while  the  Fifth  Cavalry  was  composed  in  part  of 
Germans  enlisted  at  Dubuque  and  Burlington  for  the 
Fremont  Guards,  by  Colonel  Carl  Schaefer  de  Boern- 
stein,  who  fell  in  action  in  Tennessee  in  May,  1862, 
and  was  mourned  as  a  gallant  soldier. 

Matthes's  Iowa  battalion  won  distinction  in  Sher- 
man's army.  Colonel  Nicholas  Perczel,  of  the  Tenth 
Iowa,  was  also  commended  as  an  excellent  soldier. 

From  the  French  colonists  settled  at  Icaria,  in 
Iowa,  came  a  number  of  soldiers,  among  them  Anton 
von  Gaudain,  who  was  born  in  Berlin,  of  French- 
Huguenot  stock, — the  son  of  an  army  officer,  and 
himself  trained  for  an  army  officer.  He  came  to  the 


WARS   OF  THE    UNITED   STATES. 


133 


United  States  at  twenty-five,  edited  a  French  paper 
in  New  York,  taught  school,  joined  the  Icarian  com- 
munity in  Icaria,  served  for  three  years  in  the  Union 
army,  and  after  the  war  made  his  home  in  Corning, 
Iowa,  near  a  settlement  of  French  Icarians,  where  he 
died,  in  1883.  He  was  a  scholar  of  remarkable  at- 
tainments, and  was  beloved  by  all  who  knew  him. 

Connecticut  had  in  its  Sixth  Regiment  a  com- 
pany of  Germans  from  New  Haven,  Norwich,  and 
Waterbury,  commanded  by  Captain  Klein,  who  be- 
came lieutenant-colonel  of  the  regiment,  and  an- 
other, under  Captain  Biebel,  from  Bridgeport,  Meri- 
den,  and  New  York.  In  its  Eleventh  Regiment, 
Captain  Moegling  had  a  company  of  Germans  from 
New  Haven  and  Fairfield. 

Indiana,  according  to  the  report  of  the  adjutant- 
general  of  that  State,  had  in  its  volunteer  regiments 
6456  Germans, — not  far  short  of  the  7190  credited  to 
the  State  by  Dr.  Gould  after  the  war  had  enabled 
him  to  make  a  fuller  comparison  of  figures, — and  a 
fair  proportion  of  the  14,940  foreigners  serving  in 
and  for  that  State,  and  of  the  155,5/8  of  its  volun- 
teer soldiers.  Among  the  most  noteworthy  of  its 
representative  German  soldiers  were  General  August 
Willich,  and  Colonel  John  Gerber,  killed  in  com- 


134 


THE    GERMAN  SOLDIER   IN  THE 


mand  of  the  Twenty-fourth  Indiana  at  Shiloh,  April 
7,  1862. 

A  German,  Albert  Lange,  was  one  of  the  active 
staff  of  Governor  Morton,  and  worked  faithfully  to 
enable  that  State  to  do  its  share  successfully  in  the 
war  of  the  Rebellion.  Another  German,  John  B. 
Lutz,  led  the  Indiana  forces  in  their  resistance  to 
Morgan's  raids.  The  Thirty-second  was  a  distinc- 
tive German  regiment,  organized  in  Dearborn,  Floyd, 
Fort  Wayne,  Jefferson,  and  other  farming  districts, 
from  the  best  classes  of  German-American  settlers. 

Kentucky  had  many  Germans  among  its  fifty-six 
thousand  loyal  soldiers,  and  just  as  the  Germans 
saved  St.  Louis  and  Missouri  to  the  Union,  so  they 
helped  to  keep  Louisville  and  Kentucky  out  of  the 
Confederacy.  F.  Bierbower  was  major  of  the  For- 
tieth Kentucky.  Von  Kielmansegge  served  in  cav- 
alry commands  in  Missouri,  Florida,  and  Maryland, 
where  von  Koerber  was  also  a  major  of  the  First 
Cavalry. 

Minnesota  wisely  preserved  a  list  of  the  nativities 
of  its  soldiers  in  the  reports  of  its  adjutant-general 
during  the  war.  Company  G,  of  the  Second  Regi- 
ment, and  Companies  D  and  E,  of  the  Fifth  Regi- 
ment, were  both  German  organizations;  and  Henning 


WARS   OF  THE    UNITED  STATES.  ^5 

von  Minden  was  captain  of  Company  A  of  the  bat- 
talion of  cavalry  raised  by  him,  and  Emil  Munch  was 
captain  of  the  First  Minnesota  Light  Artillery.  John 
C.  Becht,  major  of  the  Fifth  Minnesota,  and  R.  von 
Borgersock,  colonel,  are  among  the  notable  German 
officers  from  this  State. 

Maine  had  as  lieutenant-colonel  of  its  First  Artil- 
lery Regiment  and  captain  of  its  Fifth  Battery,  George 
F.  Leppien,  who  had  been  lieutenant  in  a  Pennsyl- 
vania battery.  He  was  well  known  to  Philadelphians 
from  his  residence  and  his  connection  with  leading 
citizens  of  that  city.  Educated  at  a  military  school 
in  Germany,  he  showed  himself  a  thorough  soldier 
in  his  life  and  in  his  heroic  death. 

Michigan  supplied  four  thousand  eight  hundred 
and  seventy-two  Germans  out  of  a  total  of  fourteen 
thousand  foreigners,  and  in  addition  to  seventy-six 
thousand  native-born  citizens,  in  its  portion  of  the 
army.  It  is  worth  noting  that  Gould's  estimate  gives 
only  three  thousand  five  hundred  and  thirty-four. 

In  the  eleventh  and  twelfth  volumes  of  Der 
Deutsche  Pionier,  Cincinnati,  1879-80,  are  published 
numerous  contributions  on  the  outbreak  of  the 
civil  war  in  Missouri,  by  Friedrich  Schnake,  which 
give  in  great  detail  the  part  taken  by  its  German 


136  THE    GERMAN  SOLDIER   IN  THE 

citizens  in  saving  that  State  for  the  Union.  The 
leaders  of  German  thought  and  opinion  in  St.  Louis 
counted  many  who  afterwards  fought  for  their  faith 
in  the  ranks  of  the  Union  army.  Carl  Danzer, 
Theodore  Olshausen,  Heinrich  Bornstein,  and  L.  C. 
Bernays,  as  editors  of  the  Westlichen  Post  and  Anzeiger 
des  Westens,  did  much  to  strengthen  their  German 
readers  in  their  political  views,  and  Friedrich  Munch, 
Franz  Sigel,  Friederich  Hecker,  and  Gustav  Koerner 
gave  their  powerful  help  to  the  cause  of  the  Union. 
Carl  Schurz,  Friederich  Hassaurek,  J.  B.  Stallo,  and 
others  were  the  leading  Republican  orators  in  the  war 
of  words  that  preceded  the  appeal  to  arms.  Emil 
Rothe,  Egly,  Briihl,  and  Dresel  were  Douglas  Dem- 
ocrats, and  Carl  Rumelin  was  spokesman — almost 
without  any  German  following — for  the  Breckinridge 
wing  of  the  party,  although  the  secession  lieutenant- 
governor,  Thomas  C.  Reynolds,  was  said  to  be  really 
named  Reinhardt,  of  Prague.  A  German,  Arnold 
Krekel,  now  a  judge  of  the  United  States  Court, 
presided  over  the  convention  which  forever  abol- 
ished slavery  in  Missouri.  Blair  and  Lyon,  Scho- 
field  and  Saxton,  were  the  active  representatives  of 
the  National  Government,  but  their  strength  came 
from  the  support  of  the  loyal  Germans.  The  Third 


WARS   OF   THE    UNITED  STATES. 

Regiment  Missouri  Volunteers  had  Franz  Sigel  for 
its  colonel,  the  Second,  Henry  Bornstein.  Born  in 
Hamburg  in  1801,  he  entered  the  Austrian  army  as 
a  cadet,  served  in  the  Italian  campaign  in  1822, 
studied  medicine  in  Vienna,  was  editor,  actor,  and 
author  in  Germany,  Austria,  Italy,  and  France,  and 
finally  settled  in  St.  Louis  after  the  revolution  of 
1848,  where  he  established  a  successful  newspaper. 
Later  on  he  resumed  his  theatrical  undertaking, 
and  then  returned  to  Vienna,  where  he  corresponds 
with  both  English  and  German  newspapers  in  Europe 
and  America.  The  Fourth  Missouri  Regiment  was 
commanded  by  Nicholas  Schuttsner,  a  native  of  Co- 
blenz,  a  soldier  in  the  Prussian  army,  and  an  emi- 
grant to  St.  Louis  in  1848.  One  of  General  Lyon's 
most  useful  allies  was  John  J.  Witzig,  born  in  Miihl- 
hausen  in  1821  ;  educated  at  Chalons,  at  the  age  of 
nineteen  chief  engineer  of  the  Paris  Orleans  Railroad, 
six  years  afterwards  going  to  Italy  as  chief  of  the 
construction  of  the  Milan  Turin  Railroad.  In  1849 
he  came  with  Cabet's  Icarians  to  Nauvoo,  where  he 
remained  until  1851,  when  he  came  to  St.  Louis  as 
superintendent  of  a  locomotive  works.  In  1857  be- 
came superintendent  of  the  North  Missouri,  in  1859 
of  the  Iron  Mountain  Railroad,  remaining  in  its  ser- 


138 


THE    GERMAN  SOLDIER   IN   THE 


vice  until  1865.  He  died  in  1872,  member  of  a  large 
firm  of  architects  and  engineers.  Another  able  ally 
was  Captain  William  Jackson,  commander  of  the 
German  artillery  company.  His  real  name  was  Jac- 
quin.  Born  in  Metz  in  1821,  he  came  to  the  United 
States  in  1834,  served  'three  years  in  the  Second 
United  States  Dragoons  in  the  Florida  and  Indian 
campaigns,  was  discharged  in  1837,  enlisted  in  1839 
in  the  Third  Infantry,  and  in  1844  in  the  Seventh, 
serving  under  General  Taylor  in  the  Mexican  war. 
Settled  in  St.  Louis,  he  organized  in  1852  a  company 
of  uhlans,  which  was  afterwards  changed  to  one  of 
dragoons.  In  1859  he  became  captain  of  the  Mis- 
souri artillery  company,  and  when  the  war  broke 
out  brought  his  guns  and  his  company  of  a  hundred 
men — all  Germans  except  eighteen  Frenchmen  and 
Americans — out  of  the  rebel  camp  into  the  Union 
service.  He  was  lieutenant-colonel  of  the  Fifteenth 
Missouri  and  captain  of  the  Second  Missouri  Artil- 
lery. One  of  the  captains  of  Sigel's  regiment  was 
Constantin  Blandowsky.  Born  in  Prussia,  on  the  bor- 
der of  Russian  Poland,  in  1821,  he  was  educated  at  the 
Polytechnic  School  in  Dresden,  served  in  the  French 
army  in  Algiers,  took  part  in  various  unsuccessful 
Polish  revolutions,  then  fought  in  Italy  against  Aus- 


WARS   OF   THE    UNITED  STATES. 


139 


tria  and  in  the  Hungarian  army,  came  to  the  United 
States  in  1850,  and  later  to  St.  Louis.  He  died  on 
May  25,  1 86 1,  of  wounds  received  in  the  attack  on 
Camp  Jackson,  and  was  buried  with  military  honors. 
The  work  done  by  the  German  soldiers  of  Missouri 
is  told  in  the  history  of  the  war,  but  the  names  of 
those  most  prominent  in  their  ranks  will  serve  as 
illustrations  of  the  fitness  for  the  new  task  laid  upon 
them,  and  of  their  loyalty  to  their  new  Fatherland. 
Peter  Joseph  Osterhaus  was  born  in  Coblenz, 
studied  at  the  military  school  in  Berlin,  and  became 
an  officer  of  the  Prussian  army.  In  1849  ne  came 
to  the  United  States,  settled  in  St.  Louis,  on  the  out- 
break of  the  civil  war  was  chosen  major  of  the  Sec- 
ond Missouri,  and  after  the  battle  of  Wilson's  Creek, 
colonel  of  the  Twelfth  Missouri ;  under  Fremont 
commanded  a  brigade,  at  Pea  Ridge  a  division,  and 
on  the  Qth  of  June,  1862,  was  made  a  brigadier- 
general.  He  was  assigned  the  command  of  a  division 
of  the  Thirteenth  Corps  at  Helena,  and  took  part  in 
the  capture  of  Arkansas  Post  on  January  13,  1863, 
and  in  the  subsequent  siege  of  Vicksburg.  In  the 
campaigns  in  Tennessee  and  Georgia  he  took  a  dis- 
tinguished part;  on  the  23d  July,  1864,  was  made 
a  major-general,  served  under  General  Sherman  in 


140 


THE    GERMAN  SOLDIER   IN    THE 


the  march  to  the  sea,  and  was  chief  of  staff  to  Gen- 
eral Canby  at  the  surrender  of  the  army  of  General 
Kirby  Smith,  in  May,  1865.  In  1866  he  was  ap- 
pointed American  consul  in  Lyons,  France. 

Franz  Hassendeubel  was  born  at  Gernsheim,  in 
Rhenish  Bavaria,  in  1817,  was  educated  at  Speier 
and  Munich,  came  to  the  United  States  in  1842,  and 
settled  in  St.  Louis  in  1844.  In  the  Mexican  war 
he  was  lieutenant  in  a  volunteer  battery,  and  later 
became  captain,  and  served  in  New  Mexico  to  the 
end.  At  the  outbreak  of  the  Rebellion  he  returned 
in  all  speed  from  Germany,  became  lieutenant-colonel 
of  Sigel's  Third  Missouri,  constructed  the  defences 
of  St.  Louis,  was  made  brigadier-general,  was  mor- 
tally wounded  at  the  siege  of  Vicksburg,  and  died 
July  17,  1863. 

Of  the  Union  forces  engaged  at  the  battle  of  Wil- 
son's Creek,  the  German  organizations  were — Oster- 
haus's  battalion,  First  Kansas  Infantry,  Colonel  Deitz- 
ler;  Third  Missouri,  Colonel  Franz  Sigel;  Fifth  Mis- 
souri, Colonel  C.  E.  Salomon;  Colonel  Henry  Boern- 
stein's  regiment,  five  German  regiments  from  St. 
Louis,  Jefferson  City,  etc.,  a  light  battery  of  six  guns 
under  Lieutenants  Schaefer  and  Schutzenbach,  and 
two  batteries  of  eight  guns  under  Major  Backoff. 


WARS   OF  THE    UNITED   STATES. 


141 


The  Third  Regiment  of  Missouri  Volunteers  was 
organized  in  St.  Louis  by  Franz  Sigel  for  the  three 
months'  service,  and  took  part  in  three  battles  during 
that  time.  The  Fourth  Regiment  was  the  Black 
Yaeger  Regiment,  Colonel  Schlittner ;  the  Fifth  was 
also  a  German  regiment,  commanded  by  Colonel 
Salomon.  Of  others  there  were  the  First  Cavalry, 
Colonel  Almstedt ;  the  Second  Reserves,  Colonel 
Kallmann ;  the  Third,  Colonel  Fritz ;  the  Fourth, 
Colonel  Hundehausen  and  Colonel  Wesseling;  and 
the  Fifth,  Colonel  Stifel.  Of  the  three  years'  regi- 
ments there  were  the  Second,  Colonel  Laibold ;  the 
Third,  Colonel  Hequembourg ;  the  Fourth,  Colonel 
Poten ;  the  Twelfth,  Colonel  (afterwards  General)  Os- 
terhaus  and  Colonel  Wangelin ;  the  Fifteenth,  Colonel 
Conrad;  the  Seventeenth,  Colonel  Hassendeubel;  the 
Thirty-ninth,  Fortieth,  and  Forty-first,  under  Kutz- 
ner,  Weydemeyer,  and  Von  Deutsch,  and  the  Fourth 
Cavalry,  organized  out  of  the  Fremont  and  the  Ben- 
ton  Hussars,  almost  entirely  German  in  its  rank  and 
file,  although  it  was  commanded  by  a  gallant  and 
able  American,  Colonel  Waring.  Von  Helmrich,  his 
lieutenant-colonel,  was  a  type  of  the  German  soldier. 

General  Sigel  himself  was  the  first  rallying-point 
of  the  Germans,  both  of  Missouri  and  the  North- 


142 


THE    GERMAN  SOLDIER   IN  THE 


west.  Born  in  Baden  in  1824,  educated  at  the  mili- 
tary school  at  Carlsruhe,  in  command  of  the  repub- 
lican troops  and  minister  of  war  in  the  revolution  of 
1848,  he  came  to  the  United  States  in  1850,  lived  in 
New  York  until  1858,  when  he  went  to  St.  Louis, 
where  he  became  a  teacher  in  the  German-American 
Academy  and  editor  of  a  military  journal.  When 
the  Rebellion  broke  out  he  raised  the  first  German 
regiment;  and  that  old  patriot,  Hecker,  came  with 
his  sons  from  their  home  in  Illinois,  enlisted  under 
Sigel,  and  served  with  him  until  Hecker  was  made 
colonel  of  an  Illinois  regiment.  From  Wisconsin 
came  General  Salomon,  who  became  colonel  of  the 
Fifth  Missouri,  a  brigadier-general,  and  commanded  a 
division  in  Fremont's  army.  Sigel's  later  services 
are  part  of  the  general  history  of  the  war  of  the 
Rebellion. 

In  the  "  Geschichte  des  4-jahrigen  Biirgerkrieges 
in  d.  V.  S.,"  von  C.  Sander,  "  Hauptman  in  d.  k.  pr. 
Artillerie,"  Frankfort-am-Main,  Sauerlander,  1865,  it 
is  stated  that  of  the  forty-three  thousand  officers  of 
the  United  States  forces,  from  three  to  four  hundred 
only  had  been  trained  in  military  life  abroad ;  and 
their  services  were  interfered  with  by  the  jealousy  of 
the  native  citizens,  by  their  ignorance  of  the  Ian- 


WARS   OP    THE    UNITED  STATES.  ^3 

guage,  and  of  the  new  conditions  of  a  war  in  a  coun- 
try in  which  they  were  strangers. 

These  statements  are  mere  generalizations,  not 
based  on  any  precise  information,  and  the  best  reply 
to  them  is  found  in  the  facts  and  names  here  gathered 
together. 

Carl  Schurz  was  born  on  the  banks  of  the  Rhine, 
became  well  known  through  his  active  share  in  the 
flight  of  Kinkel,  gave  up  his  embassy  in  Spain  to 
become  a  general  of  volunteers,  and  became  a  mem- 
ber of  Hayes's  cabinet.  His  services  as  an  orator 
before  the  war  made  his  name  familiar  to  the  whole 
country,  and  his  return  to  civil  life  has  been  marked 
by  many  evidences  of  popular  esteem  and  affection. 
As  editor  of  a  series  of  books  on  our  early  German 
history  by  Kapp  and  Seidensticker,  he  has  again  taken 
the  place  which  he  has  so  well  earned  as  the  type  of 
the  German-American  citizen,  equally  loyal  to  the 
country  of  his  birth  and  that  of  his  adoption  and  his 
home,  and  alike  appreciated  in  both. 

In  Nebraska,  the  German  soldiers  did  good  service 
in  the  defence  of  the  borders  from  Indians,  in  the 
Second  Cavalry,  under  General  Sully;  and  in  one 
engagement  in  Dakota,  in  September,  1863,  the 
Indians,  numbering  two  thousand  warriors,  were 


144 


THE    GERMAN  SOLDIER   IN  THE 


defeated,  but  not  without  a  severe  loss.  When  the 
regiment  had  served  out  its  time,  its  veterans  were 
consolidated  in  an  independent  battalion  of  four 
companies,  and  assigned  to  duty  on  the  plains  with 
the  First  Nebraska  Cavalry.  In  the  summer  of  1864 
the  Seventh  Iowa  Cavalry  was  assigned  the  defence 
of  the  overland  post  route  from  Fort  Kearney  to 
the  borders, — the  First  Nebraska  Cavalry  and  a  com- 
pany of  regular  cavalry  continued  the  line,  and 
protected  the  country  from  attacks  by  the  Indians. 
The  raids  became  more  and  more  frequent  and 
bloody,  and  hundreds  of  homes  were  destroyed,  and 
many  settlers  and  their  families  killed  or  captured. 
The  local  government  organized  a  force  of  volun- 
teers, and  the  War  Department  strengthened  it  by 
such  aid  as  it  could  give,  and  thus  the  country  was 
saved  a  repetition  of  the  bloody  horrors  of  West 
Minnesota.  The  First  Veteran  Cavalry  Regiment 
was  one-half  German,  and  under  Lieutenant-Colonel 
Baiimer  proved  that  it  was  able  to  cope  successfully 
with  the  Indians.  Almost  in  sight  of  sixteen  thousand 
hostiles,  he  hanged  "  Black  Kettle,"  an  Indian  chief, 
convicted  by  a  court-martial  of  murder.  William 
Baiimer  was  born  in  Miinster,  Prussia,  in  1826,  was 
educated  there  at  its  High  School,  was  by  turns  a 


WARS   OF  THE    UNITED  STATES. 


145 


carver  and  turner  in  wood,  architect,  and  a  railroad 
employe.  He  served  three  years  in  the  Thirteenth 
Infantry,  saw  some  active  service,  came  to  the  United 
States  in  1852,  worked  in  Cincinnati,  then  settled  in 
Guttenburg,  Iowa,  went  to  Dubuque,  where  he  estab- 
lished his  reputation  as  architect  and  builder,  then 
went  to  St.  Joseph,  Missouri ;  there  he  joined  a  Ger- 
man rifle  company,  at  the  outbreak  of  the  Rebellion 
removed  to  Omaha,  joined  the  First  Nebraska,  be- 
came its  captain,  served  to  the  end  of  the  war,  and 
died  in  Omaha  in  1869.  His  name  is  perpetuated  by 
the  Baumer  Post,  Grand  Army  of  the  Republic,  of 
Nebraska  City. 

New  Jersey  had  no  distinctive  German  regiments, 
although  the  Third  New  Jersey  Cavalry,  recruited 
at  Hoboken  and  Jersey  City,  was  largely  composed 
of  Germans;  but  German  companies  were  found  in 
its  regiments,  notably  K  of  the  First,  D  of  the 
Second,  E  of  the  Third,  A  of  the  Fourth,  and  G 
and  L  of  the  Second  Cavalry,  and  K  and  L  of  the 
Third,  and  Batteries  B  and  C  of  the  First  Artillery. 

General  Mindel,  colonel  of  the  Thirty-third  New 
Jersey,  was  a  very  gallant  and  distinguished  soldier. 

The  Third  New  Jersey    Cavalry   (or    Thirty-sixth 

New  Jersey  Regiment)  was   mustered   into   service, 

13 


146  THE    GERMAN  SOLDIER  IN  THE 

February  10,  1864,  as  the  First  United  States  Hus- 
sars. Among  its  officers  were  Major  Siegfried  von 
Forstner,  Captains  Herzberg,  Schafer,  Knoblesdorf, 
and  Stoll,  Lieutenants  Stulpnagel,  Kramer,  Siebeth, 
Bulow,  Walpel. 

Joseph  Karge,  formerly  a  Prussian  officer,  was 
lieutenant-colonel  of  the  First  New  Jersey  Cavalry, 
commanded  the  First  Brigade  of  Grierson's  Division 
of  Cavalry,  and  is  now  professor  at  Princeton.  General 
Mindel  commanded  a  brigade  consisting  of  the  One 
Hundred  and  Twenty-seventh  Pennsylvania,  the  One 
Hundred  and  Thirty-fourth  New  York,  and  the 
Thirty-third  New  Jersey. 

Among  the  familiar  names  distinguished  in  the 
Rebellion  is  that  of  the  Roeblings,  whose  services 
in  war  have  been  overshadowed  by  their  brilliant 
success  in  civil  life ;  yet  their  share  was  no  small 
one  in  the  labors  and  the  glories  of  the  struggle  for 
the  Union. 

Captain  Sohm  as  an  artillerist  and  General  Karge 
as  a  cavalry  officer,  and  Major  von  Forstner  and 
Major  Alstrom  of  the  Third  New  Jersey  Cavalry, 
were  among  those  who  did  especial  service. 

Ohio  has  a  large  proportion  of  Germans  in  its 
borders,  and  from  them  have  come  many  soldiers. 


WARS   OF  THE    UNITED   STATES. 


147 


In  the  Mexican  war  Cincinnati  sent  three  German 
companies,  Columbus,  Dayton,  Hamilton,  each  two, 
and  the  Second  Ohio  Volunteers  was  called  the 
German  Regiment.  It  was  commanded  by  August 
Moor,  who  had  served  in  the  Florida  war,  and  who 
served  again  in  the  Rebellion.  When  Fort  Sumter 
was  fired  on,  three  German  infantry  companies  and 
the  Washington  Dragoons  were  on  their  way  to 
Washington  the  day  the  first  call  for  troops  was  is- 
sued. Two  German  regiments  were  soon  organized, 
and  more  than  a  third  of  the  soldiers  from  Ohio  were 
Germans.  There  were  eleven  German  regiments : 
Ninth,  Colonel  Kammerling;  Twenty-eighth,  Colonel 
Moor;  Thirty-seventh,  Colonel  Sieber  ;  Forty-seventh, 
Colonel  Porschner;  Fifty-eighth,  Colonel  Bausen- 
wein;  Sixty-seventh,  Colonel  Burstenbinder;  Seventy- 
fourth,  Colonel  von  Schrader ;  One  Hundred  and 
Sixth,  Colonel  Tafel ;  One  Hundred  and  Seventh, 
Colonel  Meyer ;  One  Hundred  and  Eighth,  Colonel 
Limberg;  One  Hundred  and  Sixty-fifth,  Colonel 
Bohlander ;  Third  Cavalry,  Colonel  Zahm ;  three 
batteries,  Hoffman's,  Dilger's,  and  Markgraf's.  The 
German  general  officers  from  Ohio  were  Weitzel, 
Kautz,  Moor,  Ammen,  von  Blessing,  Darr,  Giese, 
Leister,  Meyer,  von  Schrader,  and  Ziegler. 


I48  THE    GERMAN  SOLDIER   IN  THE 

August  Moor,  colonel  of  the  Twenty-eighth  Ohio, 
was  born  in  Leipsic  in  1814,  came  to  this  country  in 
l%33>  was  an  officer  of  the  Washington  Guard  of 
Philadelphia,  and  with  its  captain,  Koseritz,  took 
part  in  the  Seminole  war  in  1836  as  lieutenant  of  a 
dragoon  regiment.  In  the  Mexican  war  he  rose 
from  captain  to  colonel  of  the  Fourth  Ohio,  and  at 
the  outbreak  of  the  Rebellion  was  made  colonel  of 
the  Twenty-eighth  Ohio,  the  second  German  regi- 
ment, and  became  a  brigadier-general  as  a  reward 
for  his  gallant  service.  Von  Blessing  of  the  Thirty- 
seventh  Ohio,  Degenfeld  of  the  Twenty-sixth,  Aug. 
Dotze  of  the  Eighth  Ohio  Cavalry,  Alex,  von  Schra- 
der  of  the  Seventy- fourth  Ohio,  Seidel  of  the  Third 
Ohio  Cavalry,  Sondersdorff  of  the  Ninth  Ohio,  Tafel 
of  the  One  Hundred  and  Sixth  Ohio,  were  among 
those  whose  services  are  worth  remembering. 

General  August  Willich  was  born  in  Gorzyn,  in 
East  Prussia,  in  1810,  of  an  old  noble  family; 
his  father  had  been  captain  in  a  hussar  regiment. 
As  a  child,  the  son,  on  the  death  of  his  father,  became 
a  member  of  the  family  of  Schleiermacher,  the 
famous  theologian, — a  connection  by  marriage.  At 
twelve  he  was  sent  to  the  cadet  school  at  Potsdam. 
In  1828,  after  graduating  at  the  military  school  in 


WARS   OF  THE    UNITED  STATES. 

Berlin,  he  became  an  officer  of  an  artillery  regi- 
ment, and  in  1841,  captain.  A  Socialist  Democrat, 
he  learned  the  trade  of  a  carpenter  in  his  leisure 
hours,  and,  leaving  the  service,  soon  took  a  foremost 
rank  in  the  revolution  of  1848.  In  1853  he  came 
to  the  United  States  with  the  idea  of  organizing  a 
force  here  to  lead  against  Hamburg  and  Germany. 
He  found  means  of  livelihood  in  the  navy  yard  at 
Brooklyn,  then  was  appointed  to  the  Coast  Survey, 
and  finally  became  editor  of  the  German  Republican 
of  Cincinnati,  where  he  was  living  when  the  Rebel- 
lion broke  out.  He  enlisted  in  the  First  Ohio, 
became  its  adjutant  and  major  of  the  Ninth  Ohio, 
and  later,  colonel  of  the  Thirty- second  (First  Ger- 
man) Indiana;  was  made  a  brigadier-general  after 
Shiloh,  when  his  lieutenant-colonel,  Von  Trebra,  be- 
came colonel  of  the  regiment.  He  died  January  23, 
1878. 

Christopher  Degenfeld  was  born  in  Germany  in 
1824,  and  trained  there  as  a  soldier.  He  was  major 
of  the  Twenty-sixth  Ohio  Volunteers,  and  afterwards 
captain  of  the  Twelfth  Ohio  Cavalry.  His  severe 
wounds  obliged  him  to  retire,  and  his  life  was  short- 
ened by  his  suffering,  until  his  death,  in  his  fifty- 
fourth  year,  in  Sandusky. 

13* 


THE    GERMAN  SOLDIER  IN  THE 

Captain  Hermann  Dettweiler  was  born  in  Baden 
in  1825,  and  was  a  soldier  in  its  revolutionary  army. 
He  served  in  the  Sixth  Kentucky  until  his  wounds 
obliged  him  to  leave  the  field.  He  died  in  Louisville 
on  the  nth  of  September,  1878. 

Battery  A,  First  West  Virginia  Artillery,  Captain 
Furst,  of  Wheeling,  was  composed  of  Germans. 

Wisconsin  had  for  its  war  governor  Edward  Salo- 
mon, born  in  Halberstadt,  Prussia,  in  1828.  He 
came  to  Wisconsin  in  1849,  and  was  by  turns  school- 
teacher, county  surveyor,  court  clerk,  lawyer,  and 
governor.  The  Ninth  Wisconsin  was  raised  by  Colo- 
nel—  later  General  —  Frederich  Salomon.  Born  in 
Prussia  in  1826,  engineer,  architect,  and  soldier  in 
Germany,  he  too  came  to  the  United  States.  He 
first  served  in  a  Missouri  regiment,  but  returned  to 
organize  a  German  regiment  in  Wisconsin.  His  com- 
panies were,  among  other  striking  titles,  The  She- 
boygan  Tigers,  The  Sigel  Guard,  The  Wisconsin 
Tigers,  and  The  Tell  Sharpshooters.  When  the 
colonel  became  a  brigadier -general,  the  regiment 
was  commanded  by  Colonel  Jacobi  and  by  Colonel 
Charles  E.  Salomon,  the  third  and  eldest  brother. 

Colonel  Charles  E.  Salomon  was,  like  the 
governor  and  the  general,  born  in  Germany,  in 


WARS   OF   THE    UNITED  STATES.  j^j 

1822.  He  was  educated  as  a  surveyor,  served  as 
a  volunteer  in  the  Pioniers,  and  in  1843  became 
an  officer  of  that  corps.  He  was  employed,  too,  in 
railroad  and  other  engineering  work.  In  1849  he 
came  West;  in  1850  to  St.  Louis,  where  he  was 
elected  county  surveyor, — defeating  Ulysses  S.  Grant 
in  the  contest  for  the  popular  vote, — county  en- 
gineer, and  held  a  variety  of  other  technical  offices 
in  the  city's  service.  He  organized  and  was  colonel 
of  the  Fifth  Missouri  Volunteers,  and  when  it  was 
mustered  out  took  command  of  the  Ninth  Wiscon- 
sin, winning  the  brevet  of  brigadier-general.  Re- 
turned to  civil  life,  he  was  frequently  employed  by 
the  United  States,  and  died  on  February  8,  1880. 

The  Twenty-sixth  Wisconsin  was  another  German 
regiment,  organized  at  Camp  Sigel,  Milwaukee,  and 
commanded  by  Colonel  Jacobi  and  General  Winkler. 
It  served  in  the  Eleventh  Corps,  and  shared  in  its 
varying  fortunes  in  the  East  and  its  brilliant  suc- 
cesses under  Sherman.  The  Twenty-seventh  was 
also  a  German  regiment  under  Colonel  Conrad  Krez, 
so  were  the  Thirty-fourth,  under  Colonel  Fritz  An- 
neke,  and  the  Thirty-fifth,  under  Colonel  Henry  Orff. 
Gustav  von  Deutsch  commanded  a  company  of  cav- 
alry from  Wisconsin,  which  became  Company  M  of 


I $2  THE    GERMAN  SOLDIER  IN  THE 

the  Fourth  Missouri  Cavalry.  The  Second  Battery, 
Wisconsin  Artillery,  was  also  a  German  organization. 
The  Fritz  Anneke  of  the  Thirty-fourth  Wisconsin 
was  also  the  author  of  the  "  Zweite  Freiheitsampf," 
published  at  Frankfort-on-the-Main,  in  1861. 

Of  the  German  soldiers  in  the  Rebellion,  those 
mentioned  in  these  pages  may  well  be  considered 
typical  examples.  These  are  but  a  small  proportion 
of  the  great  number  who  served  with  equal  patriot- 
ism. It  is  not  possible  in  any  brief  way  to  give 
a  detailed  account  of  all  of  those  who  were  for- 
tunate enough  to  be  distinguished  in  their  special 
services.  These  pages  are  only  a  sketch  of  the  active 
share  taken  in  every  part  of  the  country  by  its 
German  citizens,  and  perhaps  some  more  diligent 
student  may  yet  complete  the  picture  by  an  ex- 
haustive study  of  the  subject.  Imperfect  as  it  is, 
with  all  its  omissions  and  shortcomings,  it  will,  how- 
ever, serve  to  show  that  the  Germans  did  their  share 
in  the  war  for  the  Union,  alike  in  numbers,  in 
courage,  in  endurance,  in  zeal,  in  all  the  qualities 
that  make  the  good  soldier  and  the  good  citizen. 
They  may  fairly  point  with  pride  to  the  record  of 
their  achievements  and  claim  for  them  the  reward 
of  duty  well  done.  Both  those  who  brought  with 


WARS  OF  THE   UNITED   STATES. 

them  the  training,  skill,  and  experience  acquired  in 
Germany,  and  those  who  had  as  part  of  their  inher- 
itance their  national  qualities,  deserve  to  be  re- 
membered ;  this  will  have  been  successfully  done 
if  their  names  be  for  even  a  little  while  rescued  from 
forgetfulness  and  oblivion. 

There  were,  of  course,  on  the  surface,  many  Ger- 
mans who  rose  early  to  a  dangerous  eminence,  and 
some  ended  their  career  with  anything  but  credit  to 
themselves  or  their  countrymen,  but  these  were  soon 
thinned  out  by  the  actual  experiences  of  real  war. 
As  they  disappeared,  their  places  were  taken  by 
men  of  merit,  and  the  German  soldier  earned  the 
rank  which  his  own  achievements  had  gained  for 
him.  It  was  in  the  ranks,  and  as  non-commissioned 
officers,  that  their  steadiness,  courage,  discipline,  en- 
durance, and  other  manly  virtues  were  especially 
marked.  Courage  is  not  such  a  rare  virtue,  but  the 
capacity  to  be  a  good  soldier  in  the  long  and  weary 
months  of  inaction,  in  the  depression  incidental  to 
defeat,  in  the  license  that  follows  victory,  in  the  try- 
ing hours  of  imprisonment  and  sickness, — this  was 
the  marked  characteristic  of  the  German  soldier, 
and  it  shone  out  in  those  regiments  and  companies 
in  which  the  mass  was  made  up  of  impetuous  and 


154 


THE    GERMAN  SOLDIER  IN  THE 


undisciplined  Americans,  unaccustomed  to  obedience 
and  self-sacrifice.  Here  and  there  a  German  was 
found  who  steadied  the  others  by  his  example,  some- 
times without  a  word,  occasionally  by  a  little  en- 
couragement, always  by  his  manly  and  soldierly 
qualities.  The  literature  of  the  war  is  largely  made 
up  of  the  heroic  achievements  of  those  who  gained 
promotion  and  distinction,  but  there  is  also  found  in 
regimental  histories  and  in  the  dry  annals  of  State 
records,  the  occasional  mention  of  some  special  gal- 
lantry of  the  enlisted  man.  The  story  of  his  part  of 
the  hardships  and  the  successes  of  the  war  remains 
to  be  told, — cannot,  perhaps,  in  view  of  the  vast 
number  of  soldiers,  ever  be  fully  told, — but  wher- 
ever the  German  soldier  served,  there  he  made  his 
mark  by  characteristic  virtues,  the  distinguishing 
traits  of  his  nationality,  in  both  new  and  old  country. 
The  Hon.  Andrew  D.  White,  lately  President  of 
Cornell  University,  and  formerly  United  States  Min- 
ister to  Germany,  gave  an  admirable  summary  of 
the  intellectual  debt  of  the  United  States  to  Ger- 
many in  his  address,  delivered  October  4,  1884,  at 
the  centennial  celebration  of  the  German  Society  of 
New  York.  The  title  is  the  key  to  the  note  he 
strikes.  It  is  entitled  "  Some  Practical  Influences 


WARS   OF  THE    UNITED   STATES. 


155 


of  German  Thought  upon  the  United  States,"  and  it 
is  full  of  suggestive  ideas  and  profound  thoughts. 
He  refers  to  the  Revolution,  when  "the  organizing 
power  of  Steuben,  the  devotion  of  Kalb,  and  the 
rude  courage  of  Herckheimer  were  precious  in  es- 
tablishing the  liberties  of  the  country ;"  to  the  recog- 
nition of  the  infant  Republic  by  Frederic  the  Great, 
first  of  all  European  rulers;  and  to  the  "earnestness 
of  German-American  thinkers,  so  long  as  the  strug- 
gle was  carried  on  with  the  pen,  and  the  bravery  of 
German-American  soldiers  when  it  was  carried  on 
by  the  sword."  He  pays  fitting  tribute  to  the  words 
and  deeds  of  sympathy  that  came  from  Germany 
alone  in  the  fearful  darkness  and  distress  of  the  civil 
war,  when  "  German  scholars  and  thinkers,  men  like 
Theodore  Mommsen  and  his  compeers,  proclaimed 
their  detestation  of  slavery  and  their  hope  for  the 
American  Union."  In  another  place  he  shows  the 
reflex  effect  of  the  great  work  done  by  a  German- 
American  as  orator,  soldier,  and  statesman,  when, 
speaking  of  Carl  Schurz  as  "  first  of  all  the  recent 
American  thinkers,"  he  tells  us  that  Bismarck  said 
to  him,  "As  a  German  I  am  proud  of  the  success 
of  Carl  Schurz."  He  closes  in  an  earnest  hope  that 
"the  healthful  elements  of  German  thought  will  aid 


I56 


THE    GERMAN  SOLDIER  IN  THE 


powerfully  in  evolving  a  future  for  this  land  purer 
in  its  politics,  nobler  in  its  conception  of  life,  more 
beautiful  in  the  bloom  of  art,  more  precious  in  the 
fruitage  of  character."  What  the  Germans  have  al- 
ready done  in  and  for  this  country  is  the  best  as- 
surance that  this  fervent  prayer  will  be  granted. 
To  show  their  share  as  soldiers  in  the  wars  of  the 
United  States,  is  at  least  a  justification  of  the  right 
and  duty  cast  upon  them  to  see  that  so  far  as  in 
them  lies,  neither  from  within  nor  without  shall 
any  injury  befall  the  Republic. 


WARS  OF  THE    UNITED  STATES. 


157 


GERMAN  OFFICERS  OF  THE  REVOLUTIONARY  ARMY. 

GENERAL  OFFICERS. 
DeKalb,  John,  maj.-gen.,  1777. 
Steuben,  F.  W.  A.,  maj.-gen.,  1778. 
De  Woedtke,  Frederick  William,  brig.-gen.,  1776. 
Muhlenberg,  T.  P.  G.,  brig.-gen.,  1777. 
Weedon,  George,  brig.-gen.,  1777. 

Weisenfels,  F.,  lieut.-col.  com.  4th  N.  Y.,  1779.     • 
Ziegler,  D.,  capt.  istPenna.,  1778. 

GERMAN  BATTALION. 
Weltener,  Ludwick,  lieut.-col.,  1776. 
Burchart,  D.,  maj.,  1777. 
Bunner,  J.,  capt.,  1776. 
Boyer,  P.,  capt.,  1777. 
Boetzel,  Charles,  capt.,  1777. 
Rice,  William,  capt.,  1778. 
Hubley,  Bernard,  capt.,  1778. 
Myers,  Chr.,  capt.,  1778. 
Boyer,  Mich.,  capt.,  1778. 
Schrauder,  Ph.,  capt.,  lieut.,  1778. 
Weidman,  John,  lieut.,  1777. 
Sugart,  Martin,  lieut.,  1777. 
Gremeth,  Jacob,  lieut.,  1778. 
Cramer,  Jacob,  lieut.,  1778. 
Swartz,  Godfrey,  lieut.,  1778. 
Young,  Marcus,  lieut.,  1778. 
Morgan,  David,  lieut.,  1778. 

14 


I58 

Weidman,  John,  ens.,  1777. 
Shrupp,  Henry,  ens.,  1777. 
Desenderfer,  David,  ens.,  1778. 
Spech,  Henry,  ens.,  1778. 
Raboldt,  Jacob,  ens.,  1778. 
Glickner,  Ch.,  ens.,  1778. 
Prue,  William,  ens.,  1778. 
Hehn,  Henry,  ens.,  1779. 

INDEPENDENT  CORPS. 
Schott,  John  Paul,  capt.,  1776. 
Selim,  Anthony,  capt.,  1776. 

INVALID  REGIMENT. 
Nicola,  Lewis,  col.,  1777. 
Woelpper,  David,  capt.,  1778. 

MARECHAUSEE  LIGHT  DRAGOONS. 
Van  Heer,  Barthol.,  capt.,  1778. 
Manaeke,  Christ.,  lieut.,  1778. 
Maitinger,  Jac.,  lieut.,  1778. 
Struebing,  Phil.,  lieut.,  1778. 

ARMAND'S  LEGION,  CAVALRY. 
Markle,  Chas.,  capt.,  1778. 
Schaffner,  George,  capt.,  1778. 
Seibert,  Henry,  lieut.,  1778. 
Schwartz,  Godfried,  lieut.,  1778. 
Segern,  Fred.,  lieut.,  1778. 
Riedel,  Henry,  ens.,  1778. 


WARS  OF  THE    UNITED  STATES. 

REGULAR  ARMY. 

Bauman,  Sebastian,  maj.-com't.  Art.,  1778. 
Kalteisen,  Michael,  capt.  Art.,  1794. 
Muhlenburg,  Henry,  lieut.  Art.,  1794. 
Ziegler,  David,  capt.  1st  Inf.,  1784. 
Strubing,  Philip  (Van  Heer's  Corps),  capt.,  bv't.,  1784. 

The  following  officers  of  the   regular  army  were 
Germans  : 

Adam,  Emil,  Alton  Jagers,  1861;  capt.  gth  111.,  1861 ;  major  114th 

111.,  1865;  capt.  5th  U.  S.  Cav.,  1870. 
Adolphus,  Philip,  Prussia;  surgeon,  1861-65;  Md. 
Axt,  Godfrey  H.  T.,  Germany;  surgeon  2Oth  N.  Y.  Vols.;  U.  S.  A., 

1867. 
Balder,  Christian,  enl.  U.  S.  A.  May  12,  1857;  1st  lieut.  25th  Inf., 

1862. 
Bendire,  Charles,  enl.  U.  S.  A.,  1854;  capt.  1st  Cav.,  1873;  retired 

1886. 
Bentzoni,  Charles,  enl.  U.  S.  A.,  1857;  col.  56th  U.  S.  Col.  Troops, 

1865;  capt.  25th  Inf.,  1866. 

Clous,  John  W.,  enl.  U.  S.  A  ,  1857 ;  capt.  24th  Inf.,  1867. 
Conrad,  Joseph,  capt.  3d  Mo.,  1861;  col.  I5th  Mo.,  1862;  capt.  nth 

Inf.,  1869;  retired  as  colonel,  1882. 

Crone,  L.  E.,  22d  Mass.,  1861 ;  capt.  42d  Inf.,  1866;  retired  1870. 
Decker,  Th.,  4th  Art.,  1875  >  2d  lieut-  24th  Inf->  l879- 
De  Gress,  Jacob  C.,  capt.  6th  Mo.  Cav. ;  capt.  gth  U.  S.  Cav.,  1867; 

retired  1870. 

Ebstein,  F.  H.  E.,  enl.  U.  S.  A.,  1864;  capt.  2ist  Inf.,  1885. 
Eggenmeyer,  A.,  ist  lieut.  I2th  Inf.;  killed  June  I,  1864. 


THE   GERMAN  SOLDIER  IN  THE 

Falck,  William,  enl.  1858;  capt.  2d  Inf.,  1866;  retired  1883. 

Freudenberg,  C.  G.,  capt.  52d  N.  Y.,  1861 ;  capt.  I4th  Inf.,  1869;  re- 
tired as  lieut.-col.,  1877. 

Fuger,  F.,  enl.  4th  Art.,  1856 ;  1st  lieut.,  1865. 

Gaebel,  F.,  1st  lieut.  45th  Inf.,  1866. 

Gardener,  Corn.,  2d  lieut.  igth  Inf.,  1879. 

Gerlach,  William,  enl.  1856;  1st  lieut.  3d  Inf.,  1879. 

Goldman,  H.  J.,  2d  lieut.  5th  Cav.,  1877. 

Green,  John,  enl.  July  I,  1846;  maj.  1st  Cav.,  1868;  lieut.-col.  2d 
Cav.,  1885. 

Grossman,  F.  E.,  2d  lieut.  7th  Inf.,  1863;  capt.  I7th  Inf.,  1871. 

Gunther,  S.,  enl.  1st  Cav.,  1855;  capt.  4th  Cav.,  1870;  retired  1884. 

Heger,  A.,  surgeon  U.  S.  A.,  1856-67. 

von  Hermann,  C.  J.,  maj.  A.  A.  D.  C;  capt.  4th  Inf.,  1866. 

Hesselberger,  G.  A.,  2d  lieut.,  1866;  1st  lieut.  3d  Inf.,  1871. 

Hoelcke,  William,  German  army,  1849-51 ;  British  Legion  in  Cri- 
mea; 1st  lieut.  Mo.  Vols. ;  1st  lieut.  3gth  U.  S.,  1866-70. 

Hoffman,  Ernest  F.,  Royal  Engineers,  Berlin ;  lieut.  Prussian  army, 
1844-56;  capt.  and  maj.  Italian  army;  2d  lieut.  35th  Inf.,  1867. 

Hoppy,  E.,  enl.  2d  Art.,  1854;  1st  lieut.  gth  Inf.,  1871;  retired. 

Ilges,  Guido,  I4th  Inf.,  1861 ;  lieut.-col.  gth  Inf.,  1871. 

Johnson,  Lewis,  loth  Ind.,  1861 ;  bvt.  brig.-gen.  U.  S.  Vols.,  1865; 
capt.  24th  Inf.,  1869. 

Kautz,  A.  V.,  ist  Ohio,  1846;  2d  lieut.  4th  Inf.,  1852;  capt.  6th  Cav., 
1861 ;  col.  2d  Ohio  Cav.,  1862;  brig.-gen.  Vols.,  1864;  bvt.  maj.- 
gen.,  1865;  col.  8th  Inf.,  1874. 

Keller,  J.  W.,  6th  Mass.,  1861;  1st  lieut.  42d  Inf.,  1866;  capt.  re- 
tired list,  1870. 

Keye,  F.,  2d  lieut.  lOth  Inf.,  1869. 

Koerper,  E.  A.,  surgeon  75th  Pa.,  U.  S.  A.,  1867. 


WARS  OF  THE    UNITED   STATES.  r6r 

Kopp,  William,  ist  lieut.  Washington  Territory  Vols.,  1862;  ist  lieut. 

I3th  Inf.,  1867. 
Kramer,  A.,  2d  Dragoons,  1857;  capt.  1 5th  Penna.  Cav.,  1862;  capt. 

6th  Cav.,  1874. 

Kroutinger,  A.  W.,  enl.  2d  Inf.,  1848;  capt.  2d  Inf.,  1864;  retired  1879. 
Liedtke,  F.  W.,  nth  Penna.,  1861 ;  2d  lieut.  43d  Inf.,  1866;  ist  Inf., 

1871. 

Lockwood,  T.  A.,  2d  lieut.  I7th  Inf.,  1880. 
von  Luettwitz,  A.  H.,  54th  N.  Y.,  1862;  ist  lieut.  3d  Cav.,  1874; 

retired  1879. 

Luhn,  G.  L.,  enl.  1853;  capt.  4th  Inf.,  1875. 
Magnitzky,  G.,  2Oth   Mass.,  1861 ;  capt.,  1864;  2d  lieut.    I4th  Inf., 

1870;  retired  1871. 

Mahnken,  John  H.,  ist  N.  Y.  Cav. ;  ist  lieut.  8th  U.  S.  Cav.,  1877. 
Meinhold,  Charles,  3d  Cav.,  1862;  capt.  3d  Cav.,  1866;  died  1877. 
Merkle,  Charles  F.,  ist  lieut.  4th  Art.,  1862. 
Meyer,  Martin,  capt.  I2th  Inf.,  1861. 

Meyers,  Edward,  2d  lieut.  1st  Cav.,  1862;  7th  Cav.,  1866. 
Michaelis,  O.  E.,  23d  N.  Y. ;  capt.  Ordnance,  1874. 
von  Michalowsky,  T.  B.,  2d  lieut.  1st  Art.,  1861 ;   1st  lieut.,  1863. 
Motz,  John,  ist  lieut.  nth  Inf.,  1847. 
Orlemann,  L.  H.,  lO3d,  and  capt.  ligth  N.  Y. ;   1st  lieut.  loth  Cav., 

1867;  retired  1879. 

Patzki,  J.  H.,  surgeon  I5th  N.  Y. ;  capt.  asst.  surg.  U.  S.  A.,  1869. 
Paulus,  Jacob,  5th  and  5oth  Penna.;  2d  lieut.  l8th  U.  S.  Inf.;  capt. 

25th  Inf.,  1873. 
Phisterer,  F.,  2d  lieut.  i8th  Inf.,  1861;  capt.  36th  Inf.  and  7th  Inf., 

1869. 
Rawolle,  W.  C,  2d  lieut.  2d  N.  Y.  Art.,  1861  ;   2d  lieut.  2d  Cav., 

1868;  adjt.,  1878;  capt.,  1880. 
14* 


THE    GERMAN  SOLDIER  IN  THE 

Reichmann,  Carl,  enl.  1881 ;  2d  lieut.  24th  Inf.,  1884. 

Renaldo,  H.  O.,  2d  lieut.  gth  Inf.,  1861 ;  ist  lieut.,  1863. 

Rendlebrock,  J.,  enl.  1851 ;  2d  lieut.  4th  Cav.,  1862;  capt.,  1867;  re- 
tired 1879. 

Ritzius,  H.  P.,  5th  JJ.  Y.,  1861;  maj.  £2d  N.  Y.,  1864;  ist  lieut. 
25th  Inf.,  1875. 

Roemer,  Paul,  enl.  5th  Art.,  1858;  ist  lieut.,  1866. 

Ruhlen,  George,  ist  lieut.  I7th  Inf.,  1876. 

Quentin,  J.  E.,  capt.  iO3d  N.  Y. ;  ist  lieut.  I4th  Inf.,  1867. 

Sachs,  H.,  2d  lieut.  3d  Cav.,  1861. 

Schaurte,  F.  W.,  2d  lieut.  2d  Cav.,  1862;  capt.,  1866. 

von  Schirach,  F.  C.,  54th  N.  Y.,  1861 ;  ist  lieut.  43d  Inf.,  1866;  re- 
tired 1870. 

von  Schrader,  Alexander,  2d  lieut.  llth  Inf.,  1866;  maj.  3gth  Inf., 
1866;  died  1867. 

Schreyer,  George,  2d  lieut.  6th  Cav.,  1866. 

Schultze,  Thilo,  I2th  Mo.,  18.65;  2d  lieut.  I4th  Inf.,  1865. 

Schwann,  Theo.,  enl.  1857;  capt.  nth  Inf.,  1866. 

Sellmer,  Charles,  enl.  1854;  capt.  nth  Me.,  1862;  ist  lieut.  3d  Art., 
1877. 

Simon,  Charles,  2d  lieut.  5th  Art.,  1862;   ist  lieut.,  1866. 

Smith,  John  E.,  col.  45th  111.;  col.  27th  Inf.,  1866;  retired  1881. 

Smith,  Thos.,  enl.  1867;   ist  lieut.  I5th  Inf.,  1877. 

Steinmetz,  William  R.,  capt.  and  asst.  surg.,  1871. 

Stelyes,  Claus,  2d  lieut.  4th  Art.,  1863. 

Sternberg,  Sig.,  2d  lieut.  27th  Inf. ;  killed  1867. 

Stiebner,  Eugene ;  army,  ist  Art.  Fort  Sumter,  1861 ;  1st  New  York 
Art.,  1862;  3d  Penna.,  1863;  i6th  N.  Y.,  1864;  2d  lieut.  I5th 
Inf.,  1865;  ist  lieut.  33d  Inf. 

Stommel,  Julius,  4ist  N.  Y. ;  2d  lieut.  43d  Inf.,  1866;  1st  lieut.,  1869. 


WARS  OF  THE   UNITED  STATES. 


163 


Syberg,  Arnold,  capt.  nth  Inf.,  1847. 

Thibaut,  F.  W.,  zd  lieut.  7th  N.  Y.,  1861 ;  ist  lieut.  6th  Inf.,  1868. 

Thies,  F.,  enl.  1866;  2d  lieut.  3d  Inf.,  1873. 

Urban,  Gustavus,  army;  2d  lieut.  5th  Cav. ;  capt.,  1866. 

Valois,  Gustavus,  capt.  4th  Md.,  1862;  capt.  9th  Cav.,  1884. 

Veitenheimer,  Carl,  74th  Penna. ;  2d  lieut.  4th  Inf. ;  ist  lieut,  1866. 

Vermann,  Otto,  2d  lieut.  I3th  Inf.,  1866. 

Wagner,  Henry,  enl.  1856;  2d  lieut.  nth  Inf.,  1863;  capt.  ist  Cav., 

1869. 
Walbach,  John  de  B.,  ist  lieut.  Cav.,  1799;  col.  4th  Art.,  1842;  died, 

1857. 

Warrens,  C.  N.,  ist  lieut.  4th  Mo.,  1861;  capt.  I4th  Inf.,  1883. 
Wedemeyer,  W.  G.,  enl.  1861 ;  capt.  i6th  Inf.,  1865. 
Wenckebach,  E.  F.,  2d  lieut.  I3th  Inf.,  1865 ;  capt  22d  Inf.,  1867. 
Wesendorff,  Max,   ist  lieut.  Washington  Territory  Vols.,  1862 ;  2d 

lieut.  24th  Inf.,  1867;  capt.  ist  Cav.,  1880. 
Wilhelmi,  Louis,  2d  lieut.  ist  Inf.,  1865  ;   1st  lieut.,  1880. 

The  following,  from  a  "  List  of  Field  Officers  ot 
U.  S.  Volunteers,"  are  Germans : 

Abell,  Caspar  K.,  maj..72d  N.  Y. 

Abell,  Charles  C.,  maj.  6th  N.  Y.  and  loth  N.  Y.  Art. 

Almstedt,  Henry,  col.  1st  Mo. ;  2d  Mo.  Lt.  Art. 

Alstrom,  John  V.,  maj.  3d  N.  J.  Cav. 

Ammen,  Jacob,  col.  I2th  Ohio. 

von  Amsberg,  George,  col.  45th  N.  Y. 

Anselm,  Albert,  lieut. -col.  3d  Mo. 

Am,  F.,  maj.  3ist  Ind. 

Balling,  O.  H.  P.,  maj.  145111  N.  Y. 


164 


THE   GERMAN  SOLDIER  IN  THE 


Banghof,  CM  maj.  1st  Mo.  Cav. 

von  Baumbach,  C.,  maj.  24th  Wis. 

Bausenwein,  V.,  col.  58th  Ohio. 

Becht,  John  C.,  maj.  5th  Minn. 

Beck,  Arnold,  lieut.-col.  2d  Mo. 

Beck,  Christian,  lieut.-col.  gth  Ind.  Cav. 

Beck,  Fred,  maj.  loSth  Ohio. 

Beck,  William,  maj.  27th  Mo. 

Becker,  Adolph,  lieut.-col.  46th  N.  Y. 

Becker,  Gottfried,  lieut.-col.  28th  Ohio. 

Becker,  Philip,  lieut.-col.  5th  Penna.  Cav. 

Behlendorff,  F.,  maj.  ijth  111. 

Bendix,  John  E.,  col.  7th  N.  Y. 

Bierbower,  F.,  maj.  4Oth  Ky. 

Blenker,  L.,  col.  8th  N.  Y. 

von  Blessing,  L.,  lieut.-col.  37th  Ohio. 

von  Boernstein,  Shaeffer,  col.  5th  Iowa  Cav. 

von  Borgersock,  R.,  col   5th  Minn. 

Botchfur,  Hugo,  maj.  ist  Ark.  Cav. 

Bramlich,  Charles,  maj.  2d  Ark.  Inf. 

Brutsche,  John  D.,  lieut.-col.  8th  Mo.  Cav. 

Burger,  Louis,  col.  5th  N.  Y. 

Degenfeld,  Christian,  col.  26th  Ohio. 

Deitzler,  George  W.,  col.  1st  Kansas. 

Diechman,  Julius,  maj.  I5th  N.  Y.  Heavy  Art. 

Dotze,  Aug.,  lieut.-col.  8th  Ohio  Cav. 

Duysing,  Emil,  lieut.-col.  4ist  N.  Y. 

von  Egloffstein,  F.  W.,  col.  icvjd  N.  Y. 

Ehrler,  Francis,  lieut.-col.  2d  Mo. 

von  Einsidel,  D.,  lieut.-col.  4ist  N.  Y. 


WARS   OF  THE   UNITED  STATES.  165 

Erdelmeyer,  F.,  lieut.-col.  320!  Ind. 

Ernenwein,  C.,  lieut.-col.  2ist  Penna. 

Faltz,  Ernst  M.,  lieut.-col.  8th  Md. 

von  Forstner,  S.,  maj.  3d  N.  J.  Cav. 

Gaebel,  F.  A.  H.,  maj.  ;th  N.  Y. 

Gellman,  F.,  lieut.-col.  58*  N.  Y. 

von  Gerber,  G.,  lieut.-col.  6th  Ind. 

Glapcke,  Herman,  maj.  22d  Conn. 

Goelzer,  Aug.,  lieut.-col.  6oth  Ind. 

Gruesel,  Nich.,  col.  7th  111. 

von  Hammerstein,  H.,  col.  78th  N.  Y. 

Happel,  Christian,  lieut.-col.  loth  Mo. 

von  Hartung,  Adolph,  col.  74th  Penna. 

Hassendeubel,  F.,  col.  3d  Mo. 

Heinrichs,  Gust.,  lieut.-col.  4th  Mo.  Cav. 

Heintz,  R.,  maj.  28th  Ohio. 

Heintzleman,  M.  T.,  lieut.-col.  I72d  Penna. 

von  Helmrich,  G.,  lieut.-col.  5th  Mo.  Cav. 

Hequembourg,  A.  G.,  lieut.-col.  4Oth  Mo. 

Hequembourg,  W.  A.,  maj.  3d  Mo. 

Hundhausen,  Julius,  lieut.-col.  4th  Mo. 

Hundhausen,  Robert,  col.  4th  Mo. 

Jacobsen,  Aug.,  lieut.-col.  27th  Mo. 

Jaensch,  F.,  maj.  3ist  Mo. 

Jussen,  Edm.,  lieut.-col.  23d  Wis. 

Kaercher,  Jac.,  lieut.-col.  I2th  Mo. 

Kahler,  F.  M.,  maj.  62d  Ohio. 

Kammerling,  Gus.,  col.  gth  Ohio. 

von  Kielmansegge,  E.,  col.  4th  Mo.  Cav.;   1st  Florida  Cav. 

Knobellsdorff,  Charles,  col.  44th  111. 


THE   GERMAN  SOLDIER   IN  THE 


Knoderer,  Charles,  col.  i67th  Penna. 

von  Koerber,  V.  E.,  maj.  1st  Md.  Cav. 

Koltes,  John  A.,  col.  73d  Penna. 

Kozlay,  E.  A.,  col.  54th  N.  Y. 

Krekel,  Arnold,  maj.  Mo.  Batt'y. 

Kreutzer,  William,  lieut.-col.  gSth  N.  Y. 

Krez,  Cornel.,  col.  27th  Wis. 

Kummell,  A.  H.,  lieut.-col.  I3th  Wis. 

von  Kusserow,  C.,  lieut.-col.  2d  U.  S.  Vet.  Vols. 

Laiboldt,  Bernard,  col.  2d  Mo. 

Landgraeber,  Clemens,  maj.  ad  Mo.  Lt.  Art. 

Ledergerber,  F.  T.,  maj.  I2th  Mo. 

Leppien,  George  F.,  lieut.-col.  1st  Me.  Art. 

Mahler,  F.,  col   75th  Penna. 

von  Matzdorff,  A.,  lieut.-col.  75th  Penna. 

Mehler,  Adolph,  lieut.-col.  gSih  Penna. 

Metternich,  G.,  lieut.-col.  46th  N.  Y. 

Minden,  von  Henning,  maj.  Hatch's  Batt'n.  Mirin.  Cav. 

von  Mitzel,  Alex.,  lieut.-col.  74th  Penna. 

Moor,  Aug.,  col.  28th  Ohio. 

Mueller,  Charles,  lieut.-col.  li>7th  Ohio. 

Osterhaus,  P.  J.,  col.  I2th  Mo. 

Perczel,  N.,  col.  loth  Iowa. 

Porchner,  F.,  col.  47th  Ohio. 

Possegger,  F.,  maj.  1st  N.  Y.  Cav. 

Reichard,  F.  H.,  maj.  i88th  Penna. 

Reichard,  George  N.,  lieut.-col.  I43d  Penna. 

Rolshausen,  F.,  maj.  82d  111. 

Rosa,  Rudolph,  col.  46th  N.  Y. 

Rosengarten,  Adolph  G.,  maj.  I5th  Penna.  (Anderson)  Cav. 


WARS   OF  THE    UNITED  STATES. 

Salm-Salm,  Prince,  col.  8th  N.  Y. 

von  Schach,  G.  W.,  col.  7th  N.  Y. 

Schadt,  Otto,  lieut.-col.  I2th  Mo. 

Schaeffer,  F.,  col.  2d  Mo. 

von  Schickfus,  F.,  lieut.-col.  1st  N.  Y.  Cav. 

von  Schilling,  F.,  maj.  3d  Penna.  Art. 

Schimmelfennig,  A.,  col.  74th  Penna. 

Schirmer,  L.,  col.  1 5th  N.  Y. 

Schlittner,  Nich.,  col.  4th  Mo. 

von  Schluembach,  Alex.,  maj.  2gth  N.  Y. 

Schnepf,  E.,  lieut.-col.  2oth  N.  Y. 

Schoeffel,  F.  A.,  lieut.-col.  I3th  N.  Y. 

von  Schrader,  Alex.,  lieut.-col.  74th  Ohio. 

Schumacher,  F.,  maj.  2ist  Wis. 

Segebarth,  H.,  maj.  3d  Penna.  Art. 

Seidel,  C.  B.,  col.  3d  Ohio  Cav. 

Seidel,  G.  A.,  maj.  7th  N.  Y. 

Seidlitz,  Hugo,  maj.  27th  Penna. 

Soest,  Clemens,  col.  2Qth  N.  Y. 

Sondersdorff,  C.,  lieut.-col.  gth  Ohio. 

Stahel,  Julius,  col.  8th  N.  Y. 

von  Steinhausen,  A.,  lieut.-col.  68th  N.  Y. 

von  Steinwehr,  A.,  col.  2gth  N.  Y. 

Tafel,  Gust.,  lieut.-col.  io6th  Ohio. 

Tassin,  A.  G.,  col.  35th  Ind. 

Thielemann,  Christian,  col.  i6th  111.  Cav. 

Thielemann,  Milo,  maj.  l6th  111.  Cav. 

Thoman,  Max,  lieut.-col.  59th  N.  Y. 

Tiedemann,  D.  F.,  lieut.-col.  noth  U.  S.  Colored. 

von  Trebra,  H.,  col.  32d  Ind. 


THE  GERMAN  SOLDIER. 


von  Vegesach,  E.,  col.  2Oth  N.  Y. 
Veitenheimer,  Carl,  lieut.-col.  74th  Penna. 
Wagner,  Louis,  col.  88th  Penna. 
Wangelin,  Hugo,  col.  I2th  Mo. 
Weber,  Max,  col.  2Oth  N.  Y. 
von  Wedell,  Carl,  raaj.  68th  N.  Y. 
Willich,  A.,  col.  32d  Ind. 
Zakrzenski,  H.,  lieut.-col.  2d  Mo. 


INDEX. 


Adenbousch,  ad  Va.,  85. 
Almstedt,  ist  Mo.  Cav.,  141. 
Alstrom,  3d  N.  J.,  146. 
Amsberg,  von,  45th  N.  Y.,  115. 
Ammen,  24th  O.,  62. 
Annecke,  23d,  34th  Wis.,  151. 
Anspach,  38. 
Armlinsen,   von,    N.   O.    Turner 

Guards,  85. 

Arndt,  1st  N.  Y.  Art.,  126. 
Asboth,  93. 

Bachman,  W.  K.,  S.  C.,  83. 
Bachman's    Battery,   Washington 

Art.,  C.  S.  A.,  85. 
Bahncke,  N.  O.  Turner  Guards, 

85. 

Ballier,  gSth  Pa.,  106. 
Baltzel,  C.,  23. 

Bauman,  Col.,  U.  S.  A.,  25,  38. 
Baumer,  ist  Neb.,  145. 


Bausenwein,  58th  Ohio,  147. 
Becht,  J.  C.,  5th  Minn.,  135. 
Becker,  50. 

Bendix,  Col.,  7th  N.  Y.,  114. 
Biebel,  6th  Conn.,  133. 
Bierbower,  4Oth  Ky.,  134. 
Bierer,  E.,  17 1st  Pa.,  107. 
Blandowsky,  3d  Mo.,  138. 
Blankenburg,  H.,  77. 
Blenker,  93,  123. 
Blessing,  von,  L.,  37th  Ohio,  148. 
Boernstein,  2d  Mo.,  137. 
Bohlander,  H5th  Ohio,  147. 
Bohlen,  H.,  75th  Pa.,  no. 
Boone,  Daniel,  35. 
Borcke,  von,  Heros,  C.  S.  A.,  76. 
Borgersock,  135. 
Bouquet,  12. 

Brickel,  ist  N.  Y.  Lt.  Art.,  125. 
Brueckner,  73d  Pa.,  III. 
Buggenhagen,  von,  7th  N.Y.,i2i. 
15  169 


170 


INDEX. 


Banner,  R.,  23d  Continental,  50. 
Burckhart,  D.,  23. 
Burger,  5th  N.  Y.  S.  M.,  115. 
Burger,  N.  O.  Steuben  Guards,  85, 
Burstenbinder,  67th  Ohio,  147. 
Bushbeck,  A.,  27th  Pa.,  109. 

Closen,  von,  42. 
Colorado,  126. 
Connecticut,  133. 
Conrad,  A.,  77,  44. 
Cordes,  T.,  S.  C.,  81. 
Cornehlsen,  N.  C.,  79. 
Cramer,  J.,  23. 
C.  S.  A.,  85. 
Custer,  Gen.  George,  68. 

Degenfeld,  C.,  26th  Ohio,  149. 
Dernier,  38. 

Dettweiler,  H.,  6th  Ky.,  150. 
Deutsch,  von,  4th  Mo.  Cav.,  152. 
Dieterich,  ist  N.Y.  Lt.  Art.,  125. 
Dilger,  Ohio,  147. 
Doster,  4th  Pa.  Cav.,  108. 
Dotze,  8th  Ohio  Cav.,  148. 
Dreer,  F.  J.,  25. 

Eickhoff,  78. 
Elking,  von,  19. 
Engelmann,  43d  111.,  127. 


Ermentrout,  Daniel,  10. 
Esebeck,  41. 
Estvan,  77. 
Ewald,  42. 

Farmer,  50. 

Fersen,  42. 

Forstner,  von,  3d  N.  J.  Cav.,  146. 

Frank,  52d  N.  Y.,  115. 

Freilich,  38. 

Freudenberg,  52d  N.  Y.,  117. 

Frey,  24th  III.,  131. 

Fry,  Gen.  J.  B.,  88. 

Furman,  38. 

Furst,  ist  W.  Va.  Art.,  150. 

Gardiner,  J.  de  B.  W.,  U.  S.  A., 

60. 

Gau,  42. 

Gaudain,  von,  A.,  132. 
Georgia,  85. 

Gerber,  J.,  24th  Ind.,  134. 
Gilsa,  von,  4ist  N.  Y.,  115,  124. 
Glichner,  Ch.,  23. 
Gould,  Dr.  B.  A.,  89. 
Greble,  Lieut.  J.  T.,  2d  U.  S.  Art., 

69. 
Greble,  Lieut.  E.  S.,  2d  U.  S.  Art., 

Green,  G.  W.,  19. 


INDEX. 


171 


Gremeth,  J.,  23. 
Gries,  lO4th  Pa.,  105. 
Griesinger,  T.,  87. 
Gumbart,  111.  Batt.,  129. 


Haake,  41. 

Haake,  von,  Count,  520!   N.   Y., 

122. 

Haas,  de,  J.  P.,  41,  50. 
Haas,  de,  W.,  43. 
Hagner,  Gen.,  62. 
Hambright,  Gen.  H.  A.,  73. 
Harms,  Capt.  H.,  S.  C.,  81. 
Hartmann,  J.  A.,  48. 
Hartranft,  Gen.  J.   F.,  5ist   Pa., 

107. 
Hassendeubel,    Col.,    I7th    Mo., 

140. 

Haupt,  Gen.  H.,  62. 
Haussegger,  39. 
Hecker,  F.,  82d  111.,  129. 
Heer,  van  B.,  40. 
Hehn,  23. 

Heileman,  J.  F.,  61. 
Heine,  W.,  iO3d  N.  Y.,  71. 
Heintzelman,  Gen.  S.  P.,  62. 
Helmrichjvon,  4th  Mo.  Cav.,  141. 
Hendricks,  1st  N.  Y.  Cav.,  122. 
Hendricks,  W.,  24. 


Henry,  24. 

Herkimer,  Gen.,  48. 

Hiester,  47,  50. 

Hofmann,  Gen.  J.  W.,  $6th  Pa., 

109. 

Hoffman,  Ohio  Batt.,  147. 
Howelman,  46. 
Hubley,  B  ,  23. 

Illinois,  99,  127. 
Indiana,  133. 
Iowa,  132. 

Jackson,  William,  3d  Mo.,  138. 
Jacobi,  gth  Wis.,  151. 
Jaulmann,  38. 
Jeffereys,  12. 
Jenkins,  H.  M. ,  40. 

Kalb  de,  Gen.,  19,  25. 
Kalteisen,  M.,  S.  C.  Cont'l  Art., 

32,33,35- 

Kapff,  7th  N.  Y.,  114. 
Kapp,  F.,  15. 

Karge,  Gen.  J.,  1st  N.  J.  Cav.,  146. 
Kautz,  A.  V.,  8th  U.  S.  Inf.,  67. 
Kentucky,  134. 
Kielmansegge,  von,  4th  Mo.  Cav., 

134. 


172 


INDEX. 


Klein,  6th  Conn.,  133. 
Kleisser,  3Oth  N.  Y.,  126. 
Klingelhoffer,  C.  S.  A.,  Ark.,  55. 
Kloch,  Col.  J.,  N.  Y.  Cont'l  Reg., 

48. 

Knierim,  ist  N.  Y.  Art.,  125. 
Knobelsdorff,  von,  44th  111.,  127. 
Knoderer,  i68th  Pa.,  106. 
Koerber,  von,  ist  Mo.,  134. 
Kohler,  g8th  Pa.,  105. 
Koltes,  73d  Pa.,  in. 
Korner,  G.,  35, 128. 
Kramer,  3d  N.  J.  Cav.,  146. 
Krez,  Col.,  27th  Wis.,  151. 
Kusserow,  von,  32d  N.  Y.  Batt., 
125. 

Lange,  A.,  Inda.,  134. 
Langenheim,  William,  72. 
Lederer,  John,  79. 
Lehmann,  iO3d  Pa.,  107. 
Leppien,  ist  Me.  Art.,  121. 
Lieber,  F.,  63. 
Limberg,  io8th  Ohio,  147. 
Louisiana,  84. 
Lowell,  E.  J.,  19. 
Loyal  Legion,  117. 
Luther,  62. 
Lutterloh,  35,  37. 
Lutz,  J.  B.,  134. 


Maine,  135. 

Mangold,  78. 

Markgraf,  Ohio  Art.,  147. 

Marschall,  53. 

Matthes,  la.,  132. 

Melchers,  C.  S.  A.,  80. 

Mentges,  50. 

Meyer,  io7th  Ohio,  147. 

Michigan,  135. 

Mindel,  G.,  33d  N.  J.,  145. 

Minden,    von,    Henning,    Minn. 

Cav.,  134. 
Minnesota,  134. 
Missouri,  95,  136. 
Moegling,  nth  Conn.,  133. 
Moltke,   von,    ist    N.    Y.    Cav., 

122. 

Moor,  Aug.,  28th  Ohio,  147,  148. 
Mordecai,  Maj.,  U.  S.  A.,  67. 
Mordecai,  Col.,  U.  S.  A.,  68. 
Morgan,  D.,  23. 
Muehleck,  73d  Pa.,  in. 
Muhlenberg,  16,  34,  51,  62. 

Nast,  Thomas,  119. 

Nauman,  Col.  George,  U.  S.  A., 

61. 

Nebraska,  143. 
Neslett,  38. 
New  Jersey,  145. 


INDEX. 


'73 


New  York,  48,  98,  114. 
Nohrden,  C.  S.  A.,  81. 
North  Carolina,  79. 

Ohio,  99,  147. 
Off,  H.,  35th  Wis.,  151. 
Osband,  111.  Art.,  129. 
Osterhaus,  I2th  Mo.,  139. 
Ottendorff,  46. 

Parkman,  F.,  13. 

Passegger,  1st  N.  Y.  Cav.,  122. 

Pennsylvania,  8,  10,  13,  100. 

Pennypacker,  Gen.,  97th  Pa.,  103. 

Perczel,  A.,  loth  Iowa,  132. 

Pionier,  34,  135, 

Poe,  44. 

Porschner,  47th  Ohio,  147. 

Post,  C.  F.,  14. 

Provost,  12. 

Prux,  23. 

Quitman,  Gen.  J.  A.,  53. 

Raboldt,  23. 
Radowitz,  von,  121. 
Raith,  Julius,  43d  111.,  127. 
Ratterman,  41. 
Riedesel,  19,  49. 
Roland,  62. 


Rosengarten,    A.    G.,    1 5th    Pa. 

Cav.,  3. 

Runge,  N.  C.,  79. 
Riistow,  78. 

Salm-Salm,  Princess,  120. 
Salm-Salm,  8th  N.  Y.,  121. 
Salomon,  F.,  gth  Wis. ;  C.  E.,  5th 

Mo.;  E.  S.,  82d  111.,  150,  151. 
Sanitary  Commission,  89. 
Sauer,  20. 
Schaefer,  de  Boernstein,  5th  la. 

Cav.,  132. 

Schach,  von,  7th  N.  Y.,  114. 
Schall,  5 1st  Pa.,  105. 
Scheibert,  76. 
Scheppert,  33 . 
Scherer,  I2ist  Pa.,  102. 
Schickfuss,  von,  1st  N.  Y.  Cav., 

121. 

Schlattler,  13. 
Schleicher,  Gust.,  72,  86. 
Schnake,  135. 
Schneider,  10. 
Schott,  J.  P.,  40. 
Schott,  73d  Pa.,  III. 
Schott,  24. 

Schirmer,  N.  Y.  Batt.,  121. 
Schroder,   von,  74th   Ohio,    3gth 

U.  S.  A.,  73. 


174 


INDEX. 


Schulz,  S.  C.  Art.,  86. 
Schurz,  istN.  Y.  Cav.,  47,  121. 
Schiitts,  4th  Mo.  Vols.,  137. 
Schwarz,  2d  111.  Art.,  129. 
Schwarzwalder,  5th  N.  Y.  S.  M., 

115. 

Schwenke,  121. 
Seidensticker,  39,  49, 
Selim.  24. 
Shiras,  62. 
Shriver,  62. 
Shrupp,  23. 

Siebath,  3d  N.  J.  Cav.,  146. 
Sieber,  37th  Ohio,  147. 
Sigel,  F.,  3d  Mo.,  142. 
Sigwald,  C.  B.,  S.  C.,  81. 
South  Carolina,  79. 
Stedingk,  42. 

Steinwehr  von,  2gih  N.  Y.,  123. 
Steuben,  Gen.,  19,  20,  31,  37. 
Steuben,  Baron,  von,  52d  N.  Y., 

116. 

Stolleman,  111.  Art.,  129. 
Sugart,  23. 
Swartz,  23. 
Sytez,  George,  38. 

Tafel,  io6th  Ohio,  147. 
Texas,  84. 
Thayer,  13. 


Thielemann,  111.  Cav.,  129. 
Ticbout,  38. 

Tiedeman,  75th  Pa.,  113. 
Trebra,  von,  32d  Ind.,  121. 

Vezin,  5th  Pa.,  I5th  Pa.,  4th  Mo. 

in. 

Virginia,  84. 

Voegelin,  1st  N.  Y.  Art.,  125. 
Vollers,  N.  C.,  79. 

Wagener,  J.  A.,  S.  C.  Vols.,  72, 

81. 

Wagner,  Gen.  L  ,  88th  Pa.,  113. 
Walbach,  4th  U.  S.  Art.,  55. 
Wangelin,  H.,  I2th  Mo.,  128. 
Waring,  4th  Mo.  Cav.,  94,  141. 
Weber,  M.,  2Oth  N.  Y.,  115. 
Weedon,  Gen.,  45. 
Weidman,  23. 
Weiser,  Conrad,  10,  15. 
Weissenfels,  36,  38. 
Weitzel,  Gen.  G.,  72. 
Weltner,  23. 
Wetzel,  M.,  38. 
Wetzel,  L.,  43. 
White,  A.  D.,  154 
Willich,  Gen.,  1st  German,  Ohio; 

1st   German,    Ind. ;    32d  Ind., 

133.  H8. 


INDEX. 


Wisconsin,  99,  150. 
Wistar,  108. 
Witzig,  137. 
Woedtke,  von,  34. 
Woelpper,    Pa.     German.    Reg., 
1776,  39- 


Zahm,  3d  Ohio  Cav.,  147. 

Zedwitz,  von,  49, 

Ziegler,    Pa.    Continental    Reg., 

32. 
Zinn,  i3Oth  Pa.,  105. 


THE    END. 


UNIVERSITY  OF  ILLINOIS-URBANA 


